Constituent Data Backup

Ram Basu

We would like to be able to regularly export our constituent data, and I'm not finding a way to get that done in the way I'd like. So far, Mail Merge seems to be the best option, but it's missing the ability to export some key fields, such as record creation date.

And — pie in the sky wish, probably — I'd love to get a single CSV file that includes constituent fields as well as indications of which interests and groups they're in.

Is such a thing possible? If not, are there other avenues I should explore besides Mail Merge?

Thanks for any guidance.

Jeremy Reynolds

@Ram Basu
Try Report writer > Interactions > Constituent Interaction Counts. TONS faster, much more flexible.

Ram Basu

@Jeremy Reynolds
Thanks! I'll look into that.

Jeremy Reynolds

@Ram Basu
Sure thing. I realize my last answer was a little brief, so just some detail that this is a great way to get groups specifically (which should automatically give you interests as well, since those make groups too).

The key is that this report has groups as a field along with bio data. Select group in your step 2 reporting fields, then add a filter in step 5 for “group membership is any of the following,” along with any other filtering criteria (system status active is usually a good one, for example).

You'll have a single line per user per group, so pivot tables are your friend for summarizing things. And like all things report writer, you can configure fairly well what order things come out in, what specific info to grab, and you can throw the results into a new group if you like. Plus, unlike mail merge, it runs immediately and is quite a bit faster.