Importing and Exporting Orders

Exporting orders can be a quick way to back up your order history or transfer it to a third-party accounting software. Orders are an excellent example of when you might want to customize an export. You can change various settings during the export process and customize the export template, so that you can exclude any information you don't find useful.

Importing orders can only be done via the API. For more information, see our Orders V2 documentation in the Dev Center.

If you would like assistance in importing orders, check the BigCommerce Partner Directory for partners who specialize in order migration. If you are migrating to BigCommerce from another ecommerce platform, we offer in-house Data Migration Services, including order history.

Before migrating orders, make that you have disabled your product review email template so that review emails are not sent to your customers.

An export template determines what order information you are exporting. All export templates will include details like the order ID and customer name, but you can get more granular about other details. For a full list of exportable information, see this table of exportable fields.

BigCommerce comes with a built-in export template. The default template includes basic order information, such as order total, customer information, and shipping information. See the exportable fields for a full list of what's included in the default template.

You can also create custom export templates to add or remove columns from the export.

Customizing your template allows you to select which columns are present in an export file as well as some advanced formatting settings. This gives you a level of control over what details are returned.

However, some data may be returned in a specific format that cannot be customized. For example, products shipped to different addresses may cause order data to be displayed across multiple rows, each representing a unique shipping destination.

You can build an export template from scratch or customize a copy of an existing template to suit your needs. We recommend using this second method by creating a copy of the Default template and then modifying it. This will let you bypass the settings and field mapping when you use the custom template to import.

To start, go to Settings › Export templates. Use the Action menu to Create a Copy of the Default template.

Type a name for your template in the Template Details section and since this template will be for orders, ensure Enable Orders Exporting is the only option selected under Export Options. Notice that the tabs listed along the top update with your selections.

Customize the rest of the template settings to fit your needs. When you're ready, click the Orders tab at the top to view the available export fields.

Go through and check or uncheck each field as needed. Click Save & Exit when you have made your changes. You can now export your data using your new template.

Go to Orders › Export Orders and fill out your order export settings.

• Template — Select your export template.
• File format — You can choose between exporting to the CSV format or an XML format.
• Save export to the server for later download? — Selecting this option will save the file to your exports folder in WebDAV. (Recommended if you are exporting more than 1000 orders.)

When ready to proceed, click Continue. In the pop-up that appears, click Start export.

When the file is ready for download, click Download my Orders file.

Exporting Orders by Date Range

To export orders from within a certain date range, you will search your orders for that date range, then export the results.

1. Go to Orders › Search.

2. Scroll down to the Search by Date section.

3. If your desired date range is available in the drop-down, select it. Otherwise, select Custom period and set your date range.

The drop-down includes these options:

• Today
• Yesterday
• Last 24 hours
• Last 7 days
• Last 30 days
• This month
• This year

4. We recommend setting the date type to Order date. If there are any other search criteria, select them now.

5. Click Search. Your results will be shown on the following page.

6. Click Export all. All of the orders in the search result will be exported, not just the first page.

7. Select Default as your template, or a custom export template.

8. Click Continue, then Start export. When your CSV file is ready, select Download my Orders file.

The following fields are the data that can be exported in an order export. The majority of these fields are included when using the Default export template.

Custom Export Template Fields

These fields are not automatically enabled in the Default export template, but can be manually added to custom export templates.

Can I export incomplete orders from my control panel?

Yes, incomplete orders can be exported by creating a custom export template. Select Enable Incomplete Orders Exporting? under Export Options and check the fields you wish to include in the export.

When you are finished, click the Choose an Action dropdown next to your custom template and select Export Incomplete Orders to begin the export.

Why are some orders expanded to multiple rows?

Orders that contain multiple consignments will expand to a separate row for each consignment. For example, orders with shipments sent to different addresses or orders containing both digital and physical products.

If these orders do not contain multiple consignments, and your export was completed using a custom template, edit the template and check the Advanced CSV Export Settings. The Sub Items dropdown may be set to Create one row per sub item. This will expand multiple sub items (in this case, products) to separate rows.