How long is the Weekly Export file available?

48 hours after Salesforce generates it. Download and store it elsewhere if you need longer retention - Salesforce does not keep a history of past exports.

Can Weekly Export be filtered to specific records?

No - it exports the full object, with an option to exclude attachments and some large fields. For a filtered, recurring export, use a scheduled query instead.

Does a scheduled export count against API limits?

Yes, if it runs via the API - Bulk API calls consume the org's daily API request allocation, though far less per record than the REST or SOAP APIs for the same volume.

How to Schedule a Recurring Salesforce Data Export

Three ways to get a Salesforce data export on a schedule - the native Weekly Export, a scheduled Bulk API job, and the difference between a backup and a working dataset.

Updated 2026-09-09

A one-off export answers today's question. A scheduled export answers it every week without anyone remembering to ask. The two options below solve different problems and are easy to reach for interchangeably by mistake.

Option 1 - Weekly Export (Setup)

Setup → Data → Data Export. Available weekly or monthly depending on edition.
Produces a full-org backup as zipped CSVs, one file per object.
The file is available for download for 48 hours after generation - it is not stored indefinitely.
Best for: compliance backups and disaster recovery, not for feeding an analysis workflow.

Option 2 - a scheduled Bulk API job

For a specific, filtered dataset on a schedule - not a full backup - a scripted Bulk API job triggered by a scheduler (cron, a CI pipeline, an integration platform) gives you exactly the object, fields, and filter you want, on the cadence you want.

The shape of a scheduled job

# Cron entry running a Bulk API export nightly at 2am
0 2 * * * sf data query --query "SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE LastModifiedDate = YESTERDAY" \
  --target-org prod --result-format csv > /exports/accounts-$(date +\%F).csv

Backup vs working dataset - pick the right one

A backup needs completeness and a retention policy - Weekly Export or a third-party backup tool.
A working dataset (a dashboard feed, a nightly sync to another system) needs a specific filter and a predictable schema - a scripted export, not a full-org dump.
Conflating the two produces either a bloated pipeline reading a full-org export for one filtered use, or a compliance backup that is actually just yesterday's filtered file.

Before you automate anything

Confirm who receives a failure notification - a silently failing scheduled export is worse than no export, because nobody notices until the gap matters.
Store the file somewhere access-controlled; an export leaves Salesforce's security model the moment it lands as a CSV.
Version or date-stamp the output so a bad run does not silently overwrite the last good one.

Frequently asked questions

How long is the Weekly Export file available?: 48 hours after Salesforce generates it. Download and store it elsewhere if you need longer retention - Salesforce does not keep a history of past exports.
Can Weekly Export be filtered to specific records?: No - it exports the full object, with an option to exclude attachments and some large fields. For a filtered, recurring export, use a scheduled query instead.
Does a scheduled export count against API limits?: Yes, if it runs via the API - Bulk API calls consume the org's daily API request allocation, though far less per record than the REST or SOAP APIs for the same volume.