Goal: Create a scheduled export that saves a copy of your store's content every day, so you can restore products, collections, blog posts, pages, and menus after a bad import, an app misbehaving, or an accidental edit.
Video walkthrough: Watch the step-by-step video
Shopify doesn't include a backup feature. If data is changed or deleted by mistake, there's no "undo" in the admin, and rebuilding prices, descriptions, or collections by hand can take hours. A scheduled Altera export gives you a dated snapshot of your store that you can import again at any time.
Prerequisites:
You have Altera installed on your Shopify store
You are on a paid plan (scheduled exports aren't available on the free plan)
About five minutes
Step 1 - Create a new export
In the Altera app, click New export.
Step 2 - Select the data to back up
In the Data to export section, select every data type you want to include in the backup. For a full content backup, select:
Products
Collections
Blog posts
Pages
Menus
Files
You can also add Customers, Orders, Discounts, Redirects, Metaobjects, and other data types if you want them in the snapshot. Keep in mind that some data types are export only (for example, payouts and activity), so they're useful as a record but can't be restored with an import.
For each data type, leave all field groups selected so the backup contains everything. If you use metafields, make sure the metafield options for each data type are turned on as well.
Note: The Files export lists every file in your store with its URL, but it doesn't download the image or video content itself. To keep a local copy of your media, use the Altera CLI to download files to your computer.
Step 3 - Choose the file format
In the File format section, choose one of the following:
Excel (multiple sheets) puts every data type into one workbook with a sheet per data type. This is the easiest option to open and look through.
CSV (multiple files in ZIP) creates one CSV file per data type inside a ZIP archive. Choose this if your store has a large number of products, because CSV files don't have the row limits of Excel and export faster.
Step 4 - Name the backup file
In the File name field, include date placeholders so every run produces a uniquely named file. For example, Backup_%Y-%m-%d produces Backup_2026-08-20. Altera already adds the date and time by default, but a clear name makes it easier to find a specific snapshot later. See the Export Create Page article for all available placeholders.
Step 5 - Schedule the export
In the Scheduling card:
Select Run on a schedule.
Set the Start time to a quiet period for your store, for example early in the morning.
Set Repeat interval to Every day.
If your catalog rarely changes, Every week is also a reasonable choice. Daily backups mean you lose at most one day of changes if you need to restore.
Step 6 - Start the export
Click Start export. Altera runs the first backup right away and activates the schedule for future runs.
When the first run finishes, open the export and rename it to something like Daily backup so it stands out on your home page.
Step 7 - Check the backup file
Download the file from the first run and open it. You should see one sheet (or one CSV file) per data type, each with the full set of columns for that data. This is the same format Altera uses for imports, so the file is ready to restore without changes.
Outcome
Your backup now runs automatically every day. On the export's detail page you can:
See the Latest status of the most recent run
Browse All job runs to find a snapshot from a specific day
Download the file from any run
Click Run again to take an extra snapshot right away, for example before a large import or a theme change
Exported files are kept for 180 days by default. If you want to keep snapshots for longer, download them and store them outside Altera. See the Data Retention Policy for details.
Restoring from a backup
When you need to recover data:
Open the backup export and find the run from the point you want to restore to.
Download the file from that run.
On the Altera home page, click New import and upload the file.
Altera analyzes the file and lists each data type it found. Deselect any data types you don't want to restore, so the import touches only the data that needs fixing.
Click Start import.
A few things to know when restoring:
Backup files don't include a Command column, so Altera uses MERGE. Existing items are updated with the values from the backup, and items that no longer exist in your store are created again.
MERGE doesn't delete items that were added after the backup was taken. If you need to remove them, export them separately and import that file with a DELETE command.
To restore a single product or a handful of items, delete the other rows from the file before you import it. A smaller file is faster and safer.
Blank metafield cells in an import delete that metafield. Because the backup contains the metafield values as they were at the time of the export, restoring from a backup sets metafields back to those values.
Download the import results file after the restore and check it for warnings.
Next Steps
Schedule automatic order exports to an FTP server if you want your backups copied to your own server as well
Export Shopify data to Google Sheets to keep a live copy of a single data type
Upload and download files with the Altera CLI for a full media backup
Import best practices before running a restore on a live store