A backup of your Shopify store is a good practice to protect your business-critical data. It is like having an ecommerce insurance policy that protects your online store. There is nothing worse than having to delete something only to realize that it has gone forever.
You might be wondering, “But wait!” Shopify doesn’t back up my store. The short answer is no. Shopify does platform-wide backups but cannot restore individual account data. Read more. Shopify users, like many SaaS apps are responsible for protecting their account-level information under the Shared Responsibility Model.
There are many ways to protect your Shopify store from mistakes or disasters and avoid costly downtime. Here are three ways to back up and restore your data. Which one should you choose for your Shopify store
TLDR: Rewind Backups is the fastest and most efficient way to restore and backup your Shopify store. Rewind Backups automatically backs up Shopify stores every day, and makes it easy to restore any data that is needed.
Option 1: Manually backup and restore your Shopify store
Step 1: Export data to a CSV file
Shopify suggests merchants use CSV files for a manual backup. You cannot export your entire store, only parts. These data can be exported using CSV files from your Shopify store:
- Products
- Customers
- Orders
- Gift certificates
- Coupon codes
- Theme
Go into Shopify Admin and go to Products, Customers, etc., then click Export. You now have a CSV file with your data. It is important to understand the potential issues.
NOTICE:Shopify warns merchants about the following:
- If you sort your CSV file using a spreadsheet program, it can result in product variants and image URLs being disassociated
- Importing a CSV file that is not sorted may cause your products to be overwritten with bad data. This cannot be recovered.
- Data imported to a CSV file cannot be undone
Step 2: Copy and paste the item properties
Shopify only exports relevant data. This does not include custom product categories, does not capture images or how your store has indexed and archived items. You must copy and paste this information into a spreadsheet or document.
If you need to recover a product from CSV files and this step has not been completed, you will need to create properties from the CSV data. If a product is deleted, you will need to archive it and index it. A product image can be deleted forever. CSV files are not recommended for use due to the above reasons.
Step 3: Copy and paste any store data Shopify cannot export
You can manually copy and paste information from your store into a spreadsheet, word document or other format to back it up. You will need to copy and paste content, categories, and images for a blog post.
Step 4 – Organize backup data
Once all of your Shopify store data has been backed up, you can organize it so that it is easy to find and retrieve whenever needed.
Step 5 – Make sure you have a backup
Shopify backup security can be compromised by hackers, malware, or disgruntled workers. These are the three things that you can do in order to protect your store data.
- Use encryption Your data will be encrypted by code that is only accessible by a limited number of keys. To prevent unauthorized users from decoding the files, keys should be kept in a secure place.
- Use the 3-2-1 rule to keep three backups on two media and one off-site.
- Conduct a test regularly – this will help you identify potential vulnerabilities in your backup system before disaster strikes
Step 6 – Continue repeating steps 1-5 frequently to capture any new Shopify changes
This is a manual process so you must repeat steps 1-5 every time a change is made. You can make sure that your backups are always current by creating a backup schedule and assigning someone to do this task.
Step 7: Import CSV files when there is a mistake or a disaster in your store.
The type of data restoration you’re trying to achieve will affect the way this process works. Let’s assume we have a CSV file that contains products.
To restore all your products, you can import the CSV file from your Shopify dashboard. The changes will be reflected on your store.
To restore a specific product or subset, you will need to go through the CSV. This contains all of your products. You can then import the changes you want to the affected data. This is not an easy task and does not recommend CSV files for backup.
Step 8 – Copy any remaining data from the backup.
To restore your store, items such as product images and blog posts must be manually entered. You will need to manually enter any missing information from your CSV file or other documents.
Option 2: Creating a backup solution for your Shopify store
This is a simplified guide. When creating a backup tool, there are many factors to consider. These include being GDPR compliant and adhering to data storage regulations. Also, implementing extensive data security precautions to ensure that customer and store data is safe.
Here’s how you can get started if you don’t have enough people on your team but are interested in creating a backup solution to your Shopify store.
Step 1: Create a backup tool by using Shopify’s APIs
You must follow these steps to use Shopify’s APIs .
Shopify offers many APIs, each with their own uses. After you have an understanding of all available APIs, you can plan how to use them to obtain the most information possible from your store. Also, what frequency you should request this information – so that you can capture any changes you make. This will involve establishing the infrastructure necessary to make these API calls to Shopify and to handle the replies that Shopify returns. It will also require how to properly store the information you get.
Step 2: Secure your backup
These steps are identical to those outlined in Step 5 of the previous section.
This is a crucial step. It may not be worthwhile if the developer who built this tool cannot ensure the security of your data . If this step isn’t taken, your security and that of your customers’ data could be at risk. This can have serious consequences for your business.
Step 3: Regular testing and maintenance of the backup solution that you have built
We have been supporting Shopify stores since 2015 and can tell you that keeping up with Shopify’s evolving APIs is one of the greatest challenges. Shopify announced recent updates to their APIs, with a focus on versioning.
If your app doesn’t support the latest API versions, you could end up with a backup solution that isn’t working today. If a breaking change is made, this could have a significant impact on your resources. You should keep current with Shopify APIs and test your solution regularly. This will help you identify potential vulnerabilities in your backup solution before disaster strikes.
Step 4 – If disaster strikes, go through your data to determine what needs restoration.
This is the most overlooked part of the entire process, so pay attention!
You will need to go through all of the data you have backed up before you can perform a restore function. This process will look different depending on whether you have backed-up a few items or the entire store. This process can be different depending on whether you’re restoring an item deleted or an earlier version. Due to their dependency on each other and the order of operations, multiple items may be affected.
Option 3: Rewind and Forget it
It’s not a bad idea to go through the process of creating backup solutions or manual backups. But if you don’t know how, or don’t want, let Rewind Backups For Shopify do it for you!
Our solution automates the daily backups of Shopify stores. Rewind helps protect your data by monitoring and recording changes. This allows you to revert any mistakes or disasters. This is possible by using all Shopify’s public APIs . We provide the best backup for your store.
These APIs are constantly being updated by our dedicated team. Shopify sees backups through Shopify’s eyes. This allows us to back up and restore data in the exact format Shopify expects. This is why Rewind is the only backup/recovery solution that’s certified for all merchants , and Shopify Plus . This ensures that there are no duplicates and third-party dependencies do not cease to exist.
Paul Goldston asked: “Share your top 3 Shopify apps, and why?”
1. Rewind – It is cheap insurance
2. Klaviyo – Marketing automation with Shopify integration as tight as possible
3. Privy – Impressive pop-up creator to convert anonymous visitors into subscribers. Great for running giveaways too
