Data Loader Guide

Data Loader
When to Use Data Loader
Considerations for Installing Data Loader
Configure Data Loader
Using Data Loader
Running in Batch Mode (Windows Only)
Command-Line Quick Start (Windows Only)
Data Loader Third-Party Licenses
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Considerations for Installing Data Loader

Before you download and install Data Loader, understand the system requirements, installation considerations, and login considerations. From Setup, enter Data Loader in the Quick Find box, then select Data Loader.
Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience
Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, Developer, and Database.com Editions

User Permissions Needed
To access the page to download Data Loader: “Modify All Data”
To use Data Loader: “API Enabled”

AND

The appropriate user permission for the operation you are doing, for example, “Create” on accounts to insert new accounts

AND

“Bulk API Hard Delete” (only if you configure Data Loader to use Bulk API to hard-delete records)

System Requirements for Windows

To use Data Loader for Windows, you need:
  • Microsoft® Windows® 7 or Windows XP
  • 120 MB of free disk space
  • 256 MB of available memory
  • Java JRE 1.8 (32-bit)

Salesforce no longer bundles Java with the Data Loader for Windows installer. Download and install Java on your Windows computer.

We recommend that you set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to the directory where the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed. Doing so ensures that you can run Data Loader in batch mode from the command line.

Note

System Requirements for Mac OS

To use Data Loader for Mac, you need:
  • Mac® OS X
  • 120 MB of free disk space
  • 256 MB of available memory
  • Java JRE 1.8
  • Administrator privileges on the machine

Installation Considerations

Over time, several versions of the Data Loader client application have been available for download. Some earlier versions were called “AppExchange Data Loader” or “Sforce Data Loader.” You can run different versions at the same time on one computer. However, do not install more than one copy of the same version.

The latest version is always available in Salesforce. If you have installed the latest version and want to install it again, first remove the version on your computer.

If you experience login issues in the command line interface after upgrading to a new version of Data Loader, please try re-encrypting your password to solve the problem. For information on the password encryption utility, see Encrypt from the Command Line.

Tip

The Data Loader command-line interface is supported for Windows only.

Note

To make changes to the source code, download the open-source version of Data Loader from https://github.com/forcedotcom/dataloader.

Login Considerations

  • If your organization restricts IP addresses, logins from untrusted IPs are blocked until they’re activated. Salesforce automatically sends you an activation email that you can use to log in. The email contains a security token that you must add to the end of your password. For example, if your password is mypassword, and your security token is XXXXXXXXXX, you must enter mypasswordXXXXXXXXXX to log in.
  • Data Loader version 36.0 and later supports Web Server OAuth Authentication. See OAuth Authentication for more information.
  • Data Loader version 36.0 and later supports Salesforce Communities. Communities users always log in with the OAuth option in Data Loader. To enable OAuth for Communities, the user modifies the config.properties file as follows.
    • Change the portion in bold in the following line to the login URL of the community. Don’t add a forward slash (/) to the end of the line.
      1sfdc.oauth.Production.server=​https\://login.salesforce.com
      For example:
      1sfdc.oauth.Production.server=​https\://johnsmith-developer-edition.yourInstance.force.com/test
    • Change the portion in bold in the following line to the hostname of the community.
      1sfdc.oauth.Production.redirecturi=​https\://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/success
      For example:
      1sfdc.oauth.Production.redirecturi=​https\:/johnsmith-developer-edition.yourInstance.force.com/services/oauth2/success
    The config.properties file is in the conf default configuration directory, which is installed in these locations.
    • Mac: /Applications/Data\ Loader.app/Contents/Resources/conf/
    • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\conf\ for the current user, and C:\ProgramData\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\conf\ for all users