Exporting a dataset

Getting data out for use elsewhere, and the question to ask first: what happens to the file? If the answer is a number in a slide, schedule a dashboard.

Getting data out for use elsewhere, and the question to ask first: what happens to the file? If the answer is a number in a slide, schedule a dashboard.

Export it

1. Build a report containing what you need.
2. Export it in the format you want.
3. Wait for it to be prepared; large exports take time.
4. Download it.

Export a report, not everything

Filtering and grouping before exporting gives you a file somebody can use. A raw dump of every ticket is a file somebody has to process before it answers anything.

The question worth asking

What happens to the file? If it is opened, a number is copied into a slide, and it is deleted, then a scheduled dashboard does the same job with none of the work.

Exports earn their place when the data goes into another system or another kind of analysis.

Watch the row limit

Two caps stack here. A report itself returns at most 50,000 rows, and an Excel export is limited to 50,000 rows and 16,000 columns. A report near either truncates, and a truncated export looks complete, which is the dangerous version of this problem.

Check the row count against what you expected before using the file. Where a narrower report answers the question, that is usually the better move.

When 50,000 is genuinely not enough

That cap belongs to reports. A dataset export is a different feature and does not carry it: it takes granular, unfiltered data straight from certain datasets, delivers it as CSV, and runs once or on a schedule. Setting one up needs an Explore admin.

So a report that truncates is not always a sign to narrow it. Where you really do need everything, this is the route, and it is the one to ask us about rather than exporting in pieces.

It contains personal data

Names, email addresses, and whatever customers wrote. Once exported it is outside Zendesk's controls, on somebody's laptop or in a shared folder.

Agree where these files may live before making them routine.

A recurring export is a system

The same export every week, feeding the same report, is an integration built out of manual steps. Worth treating as one: who does it when they are away, and what happens when the format changes.

See also

• Exporting ticket, user and organisation data
• Emailing a dashboard on a schedule
• Where is my export