Data Loader Guide

Data Loader
When to Use Data Loader
Install Data Loader
Download and Install Data Loader
Considerations for Installing Data Loader
Uninstall Data Loader
Configure Data Loader
Using Data Loader
Run 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 installation and login considerations. Each release of Data Loader for Windows or Data Loader for macOS also has its own list of supported operating system and hardware requirements.
Available in: both Salesforce Classic (not available in all orgs) and Lightning Experience
Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions

User Permissions Needed
To use Data Loader: API Enabled

AND

The appropriate user permission for the operation you’re 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

Data Loader is signed for Windows. To use Data Loader for Windows, you need:

  • Microsoft® Windows® 10 on Intel x86 - 64 bit
  • 120 MB of free disk space
  • 256 MB of available memory
  • Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Windows version 17 or later

See the Salesforce Release Notes for the most current information.

Salesforce no longer bundles Java with the Data Loader for Windows installer. Download and install Java Runtime Environment (JRE) on your Windows computer.

Note

System Requirements for macOS

To use Data Loader for macOS, you need:

  • One of the following macOS versions:
    • macOS 10.15 (Catalina) on Intel x86 - 64 bit
    • macOS 11.x (Big Sur) on Intel x86 - 64 bit
    • macOS 12.x (Monterey) on Intel x86 - 64 bit
  • 120 MB of free disk space
  • 256 MB of available memory
  • Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for macOS version 17 or later

See the Salesforce Release Notes for the most current information.

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, don’t install more than one copy of the same version. If you’ve installed the latest version and want to install it again, first remove the version on your computer.

As of Data Loader v56.0.0, if the latest version of Data Loader isn’t compatible with your org's current API version, your installed version of Data Loader automatically attempts to use the previous API version to resolve compatibility with your org. For example, if your org doesn’t support API v56.0, Data Loader v56.0.0 tries making requests with API v55.0.

Download Data Loader from the Tools section of the Salesforce Developer website.

Install Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 17 or later, before installing Data Loader.

Note

If you experience login issues in the command-line interface after upgrading Data Loader, try encrypting your password again to solve the problem.

Tip

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

Note

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

Login Considerations

  • When using Data Loader from the command line or UI, you can log in with Salesforce credentials or use Web Server OAuth Authentication (Data Loader version 56.0 and later). See OAuth Authentication for more information.
  • 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 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.
  • Salesforce Communities users always log in with the OAuth option in Data Loader (Data Loader version 36.0 and later). To enable OAuth for Digital Experiences, the user modifies the config.properties file as follows.
    • Change the portion in bold in the following line to the login URL of the site. 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\://MyDomainName.my.site.com/test
    • Change the portion in bold in the following line to the hostname of the site.
      1sfdc.oauth.Production.redirecturi=​https\://login.salesforce.com/services/oauth2/success
      For example:
      1sfdc.oauth.Production.redirecturi=​https\:/MyDomainName.my.site.com/services/oauth2/success

    The config.properties file is in the configs default configuration directory, which is installed in these locations.

    • macOS: /Users/{userName}/dataloader/version/configs
    • Windows: C:\Users\{userName}\dataloader\version\configs