Exporting customer accounts & products to CSV

I have done searches both on the internet and here throughout the morning so far... I've been trying to read through things the best that I can. I am still VERY lost.

I am not very good at understanding databases and MySQL at all. I really, really need help. I need to export my customers accounts and my products to a CSV file. I have digital products in my shop (no physical ones AT ALL) that are attached to single .zip files in their attributes, not sure how difficult that would be to include, if I can even include it.

Anyway, any help or advice you could give would be greatly, GREATLY appreciated. I need a sort of walkthrough and I do need this data to be in CSV files.

Thank you so much in advance.

For what purpose do you need it in CSV files?
Most of the time when people ask this it's because they're trying to do obscure imports into site upgrades, and CSV is the wrong way to do that.

Oh, no... I do realize that, and I did see the help article here for moving from one ZC to the next and whatnot. Thank you for double-checking.

I'm not moving from one ZC to the other, and I am not trying to do a whacky upgrade. I am considering moving to a different cart platform altogether and would like to export customer and product info to CSV files to facilitate the move. I may end up changing my mind, but I need to try to do it for peace of mind right now in my decision-making process.

By the way, thank you for the quick reply. I needed that. My day is a shambles, lol.

meljen:

... I am considering moving to a different cart platform altogether and would like to export customer and product info to CSV files to facilitate the move. I may end up changing my mind, but I need to try to do it for peace of mind right now in my decision-making process. ...
I'd recommend exporting structure and data to SQL format until the decision is made.

The customer, product, and order data is stored across many different database tables to optimize performance and reduce disk space. One can think of each database table as a separate spreadsheet. This means not all of the "product" data will be found in one spreadsheet, but many are needed to see the full picture.

If one MUST export to CSV, I'd export each table to a separate file. And unless you know exactly which ones are needed, it would be best to just export them all. Alternatively one can attempt to install a version of EZ-Populate (which would make exporting the data to CSV a little easier).

NOTE: In the end, I feel it is better to keep the data and structure in an full SQL database backup. This way one not only has a solid backup, but can selectively export data (in the future). One just needs to craft an appropriate SQL statement to contain all of the necessary data in the correct format for the new database / system. Then one just runs the query and exports the results in the desired format (or simply massages the data to fit the new database design). This saves time, effort, and headaches in the long run (just need to know SQL or hire someone who does).

lhungil:

If one MUST export to CSV, I'd export each table to a separate file. And unless you know exactly which ones are needed, it would be best to just export them all. Alternatively one can attempt to install a version of EZ-Populate (which would make exporting the data to CSV a little easier).

I definitely need to have them in CSV format. Thank you for the explanation, it makes sense. I did see a post on these forums from a few years back about the various customer tables (for example), I just simply do not know how to begin exporting them. I suppose trial and error is the best way to go.

I really hesitate to install another mod in my shop at this point. But I might take a look at Easy Populate. I was considering it for the CSVs. Not sure how easy it is to install.

I know nothing about SQL and do not have the means to hire anyone, I am doing all of this myself.

Thanks for the reply. :-)

UPDATE

Took a leap of faith and figured out where to view my SQL databases (PHPMyAdmin in my website's cpanel backend - I'm stating this to help anyone out who might need this thread). I am combing through all of them to find the customer and product info I need and exporting them as plain CSVs for now just by clicking the 'export' button at the top. It works perfectly and opens nicely by default in Open Office.

Thank goodness I know spreadsheets... migrating the info into spreads as needed should be easy enough if I copy columns over into the proper locations!

Thank you for the help, like I said I hope this helps anyone else who might need CSV files too.