If you’re a Salesforce admin, Data Loader should be one of the key weapons in your arsenal of Salesforce admin tools. Even beyond the basic functionality its name implies — importing and exporting data — its features make it an integral part of many projects and tasks. Need to transfer data as part of a Salesforce org merge? You can use Data Loader. Want to back up records of a single object before making changes? Do it in minutes with Data Loader. Trying to make the same edit to hundreds of records at once? Just export the information you want to change, make the edits in Excel and then update them through Data Loader.
But with any part of Salesforce, it takes a bit of training to get comfortable with the tool. For that reason, we’ve built this comprehensive Salesforce Data Loader tutorial — 3 short videos that walk you through everything you’ll need to know: Installation & log on, importing data and exporting it.
{{cta('438d8bf7-6ad0-4584-a249-7f35c795045e','justifycenter')}}A Salesforce Data Loader tutorial in 3 videos
Installing Data Loader & logging in
Unlike most aspects of Salesforce, Data Loader must be installed locally on your machine. This nuance also means that logging in to the tool is slightly different than accessing Salesforce in your browser. The first video in our series covers:
- Where to find the Data Loader installation package
- Installation instructions
- Supporting packages you may need to install (such as Java)
- Different methods for logging into Salesforce via Data Loader and the steps in each process
Importing data
Now that you’ve successfully installed the tool onto your machine and logged in, it’s time to start importing data. Video #2 takes you through:
- How to prepare a CSV file for import
- The 3 different import commands: Insert, update and upsert
- How to match data based on IDs (Salesforce IDs or external IDs)
- Data import best practices
Exporting data
Need to pull data out of Salesforce? Then you’re looking for video #3. Here’s what it covers:
- The difference between “Export” and “Export All” commands
- The steps for each option
- What SOQL is and how to make SOQL queries using Data Loader’s query builder
- Data export best practices
And there you have it! With these 3 videos, you should be able to progress from Data Loader newcomer to superuser in no time.
Still have questions that you’d like answered in this Salesforce Data Loader tutorial? Comment below, and we might bake them into our next video!
