How To Backup A Shopify Store (Manually & Using An App)

A Shopify store can lose data in several ways.

Opening a phishing scam could let an attacker hack the store.

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack could take the website offline.

You might also delete something accidentally by pressing the wrong button.

That could mean losing a store you spent months designing.

Without a backup, you could lose access to the store or find that its products, customer information and images have disappeared.

Keeping a backup makes even that worst-case situation less damaging.

There are several ways to back up a Shopify store.

Methods range from free to paid, with different levels of complexity.

Too many backup guides I have seen are complicated or expensive. The steps below keep backing up a Shopify store affordable and straightforward.

A backup gives you the reassurance that your store information is always available, whatever happens.

That includes mistakes with the controls.

Start with the backup methods below.

1. Generate CSV Files From Your Shopify Store

For a manual backup, export store data as CSV files. Shopify supports this for only part of the store. The exportable data includes:

• Customers
• Products
• Theme
• Orders
• Discount codes
• Gift cards
• Financial data

Generate the CSV backup files as follows:

1. Sign in to the Shopify dashboard.
2. Open the page containing the data to download. Use Products > All products for products, or Customers for customer lists.
3. Select Export.
4. Choose whether to export all the data or only a selected set.
5. Select CSV for Excel, Numbers, and other spreadsheet programs
6. Press the Export button to download the data.

Using CSV files to export and store information has the following limits:

• Importing information into a CSV file cannot be reversed.
• Sorting a CSV in a spreadsheet can change information such as image URLs and product variants.
• Importing that sorted file may overwrite existing records with bad data.

2. Copy And Paste Store Data

Shopify cannot export everything as CSV. Product images, blog content and custom product categories are excluded.

Copy images, content and categories separately from Shopify into Word or Excel files.

3. Organize And Save Backup Files

Arrange the exported CSV files and manually copied backups so you can find them and understand their contents when restoring the store.

Update a manual backup whenever you change the store. A weekly or monthly calendar reminder can help you keep versions to return to when needed.

Protect backups from hackers and malicious employees with an encryption code or strong passwords. Only authorised users must be able to access the data.

Keep copies in separate locations so your store’s information does not all depend on one place.

4. Import Data Into Your Online Store

When you need to restore data to a new store, use the original store’s subscription plan and theme for the replacement.

1. Sign in to your Shopify dashboard to begin restoring.
2. Open the page for the CSV data you want to import. Products > All products is the page for importing items.
3. Install the apps from the previous store again.
4. Set up store settings manually, including payments and checkout, along with shipping and taxes.
5. Paste the content and blog posts saved in your backup files.
6. Recreate the navigation used in the previous store.

Ask Shopify support for help if you need it.

An app can automate backups instead of requiring manual copies. The following apps back up Shopify store data.

1. Rewind Backups

Restore a website after an attack or undo site changes with Rewind Backups.

Brands using the app include GymShark, MVMT Watches and Endy, which may reassure you about how it works. Add it to Shopify to begin the seven-day free trial. It saves store information daily as CSV files.

Key Features

• Back up store components, including customer orders, every day.
• Restore missing information from a particular time within minutes.
• Store every data item in a secure, encrypted location.
• Get support by phone, email or chat.

Price: 7-day free trial and $3 per month

2. Automatic Backups

Automatic Backups backs up a Shopify store whenever it changes. It keeps the store’s full history so you can restore any previous version without managing each backup yourself.

Key Features

• Restore a category from a chosen date.
• Compare current items with earlier store versions and return to a previous version with one click.
• Speak to support on a live call.
• Keep backups of information from earlier apps.
• Choose which items to restore and which to keep as they are.

Price: 14-day free trial and $8.95 per month

3. ExIm ‑ Export / Import Data

ExIm is a free app that exports store data. Unlike the first two apps, it backs up only blogs, pages and themes instead of the full store.

It can still create data backups automatically. That makes it a useful option when you want to keep costs down.

Key Features

• Export or import pages, theme settings and blogs with one click.
• Copy pages or blogs from an existing store.

Price: Free

How To Backup Your Shopify Theme

You can back up Shopify theme files alongside store data. Download the theme to export settings to a new store, or duplicate it to create a copy you can restore if the original goes wrong.

To download the Shopify theme:

1. Sign in to Shopify’s dashboard.
2. Open Online Store > Themes.
3. Choose Actions > Download Theme File.

To keep a duplicate theme as a backup:

1. Open your Shopify admin page.
2. Choose Online Store, then Themes.
3. Find the theme you want to duplicate.
4. Open the Actions dropdown and choose Duplicate.

Final Thoughts

Lost store data can erase unfulfilled orders and damage sales. Restoring it also takes time and effort.

Back up the store to keep the files you need available. Having those files ready makes setting up a replacement Shopify store much faster.