When you need your supporters’ details outside ThirdSectorBee, for a mailing house, a board report or a spreadsheet analysis, you can export the contacts in a segment. The file is prepared in the background, and you download it from Exports when it’s ready.
Exported files carry personal data. Store them securely, share them only with people who need them, and delete local copies when you’ve finished with them.
Before you start
- Module. The Exporter must be enabled for your beehive.
- Permission. You need
exporter:run:exports. Without it, the Export buttons and the Exports menu item don’t appear, and opening/exportsdirectly returns you to the home page. - A segment. Exports start from a segment, either one you’ve built and run in Segments, or a saved one. See Build segments.
Start an export
- Open Relationships → Segments, build your segment and click Run Segment. Alternatively, click Saved Segments to open your saved list.
- Click Export. It sits above the results once a segment has run, and beside each segment in the Saved Segments panel. The Export above the results uses the segment as it stands in the builder when you click, which may differ from the results table if you’ve changed a rule since running it.
- In Export contacts, choose the Columns to include. Every column starts selected; untick any you don’t need. You must keep at least one column besides the consent and safeguarding columns.
- Choose a File format: CSV or Excel. For CSV you can also tick Compress the file (gzip), which is useful for very large files.
- Click Start export. A notice confirms Export requested; choose View your exports in it to go straight to the Exports page.
Consent and safeguarding columns are always included
Consented channels, Deceased and Child can’t be unticked. They travel with the data so that whoever uses the file can see who has agreed to be contacted on which channel, and who must not be contacted at all. Check these columns before using the file for any communication.
Available columns
| Column | Notes |
|---|---|
| Contact ID, First name, Last name, Full name, Email address | Identity |
| Date of birth, Country, Town, Postcode | Personal and address details |
| Created, Updated | When the contact record was created and last changed |
| Payment count, Total received, Total pledged, Total paid out | Giving totals |
| Touchpoint count, Latest payment, Latest touchpoint | Engagement |
| Consented channels, Deceased, Child | Always included |
Download the file
Open Exports (under Relationships in the menu). The page lists the exports you have requested, newest first; colleagues’ exports aren’t shown, and you can’t download theirs.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Export | The dataset, currently Segment contacts |
| Format | CSV, CSV (compressed) or Excel |
| Requested | When you started the export |
| Status | Queued, Running, Ready, Failed or Expired |
| Rows | How many people are in the file, with any notes below |
| Available until | When the file stops being available |
The page refreshes itself while an export is queued or running. When it shows Ready, click Download to save the file.
Files are kept for seven days after they’re ready. After that the row shows Expired and there’s nothing to download; start the export again from the segment. The page shows your 100 most recent exports.
Notes on the Rows column
- People left out because of your access permissions. The export runs as you, so it only includes people you’re allowed to see. The note tells you how many were left out.
- Some values could not be filled for every row in: … The named columns are blank for some people. The rest of the file is complete.
If an export fails
A failed export shows the reason under its status. Start a new export after addressing it:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| This export has too many rows for an Excel file. Export it as CSV instead. | Excel files hold up to 250,000 rows. Choose CSV. |
| This export could not be completed because some people’s consent or safeguarding details are restricted from you. | The consent and safeguarding columns can’t be left blank, so the export stops rather than leave them out. Ask your administrator about your access, or ask a colleague who can see those details to run it. |
| This export is too large because a tag in the segment matches too many people. | Narrow the segment and try again. |
| This export failed. Please run it again. | Start the export again. If it keeps failing, let your administrator know when you ran it. |
If Download reports Download failed, the page refreshes the list; the export may have expired in the meantime.
For bringing data in, see Run an import.