Account
Export your data
Download everything in your account as JSON, PDFs and CSV, at any time and on any plan. Only the Owner can export the whole account.
Your data is yours, and you should never feel locked in. Export everything packages the whole account into one download: structured data as JSON, every document as a PDF, and spreadsheets as CSV. It is free on every plan, available at any time, and it is the right thing to do before you delete an account, change tools, or simply keep your own copy of your tax records.
What is included
The export covers the whole account, across every business:
| Format | What you get |
|---|---|
| JSON | The structured data of the account: businesses, clients and contacts, saved items, documents with their lines, revisions and links, payments, settings, and the other records you have created. Ideal for moving to another system or for your own scripts. |
| PDFs | Your documents as PDFs, the way your clients see them, including VOID and CREDIT NOTE variants. |
| CSV | Spreadsheet files you can open in any spreadsheet program, for a quick look or for your accountant. |
Money in the JSON follows the same rules as the API: amounts are strings of integer minor units with a currency, so "120000" with "currency": "USD" is 1,200.00 USD. See Money and currencies.
Secrets are never exported. Passwords, API keys, connection credentials (such as your SMTP password or AI key) and other sealed values are write-only and stay out of every export.
Who can export
Exporting the whole account is Owner-only. The account.export permission belongs to the Owner role by default and is not part of any other preset. Other members get permission_denied.
Members can still export what their role allows in each area, for example:
- clients and saved items as CSV, see Import and export,
- reports as CSV or PDF with
reports.export, see Reports, - single documents as PDF from the document itself.
Export everything in the web app
Open Settings > Data export and delete
You must be the Owner of the account selected in the switcher.
Choose Export everything
We start preparing the export in the background. A large account can take a while; you can keep working in the meantime.
Download it when it is ready
When the export is ready, download it from the same page. The download link is private to you and expires after a few days, so download it soon. You can start a new export at any time.
Through the API
An export is an asynchronous job. You start it, then check its status until it is ready.
curl -X POST "https://api.freeinvoiceautomation.com/v1/account/exports" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FIA_API_KEY" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: export-2027-01-31"Starting an export returns 202 Accepted with the export's id:
{
"data": {
"id": "0193f2d0-3a4b-7c5d-8e6f-7a8b9c0d1e2f",
"status": "queued",
"requested_by": "0193f2a1-1111-7a2b-8c3d-4e5f6a7b8c90",
"created_at": "2027-01-31T17:00:00Z"
}
}The export moves through these statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
queued | Waiting to start. |
running | Being prepared. |
ready | Done. The response includes where to download it and expires_at. |
failed | Something went wrong. Start a new export, or contact support with the request id. |
expired | The download is no longer available. Start a new export. |
Poll at a gentle pace, for example once every few seconds or minutes, rather than in a tight loop.
| Capability | Route | Permission |
|---|---|---|
| Export the account | POST /v1/account/exports ยท GET /v1/account/exports/{id} | account.export (Owner only) |
An API key can only hold the account.export scope if its creator holds the permission, which in practice means a key created by the Owner. Keys are also limited at call time to their creator's current permissions.
Good reasons to export
- Before deleting your account. Deletion hides your data at once and removes it permanently 30 days later. Export first. See Delete your account.
- For your tax records. Laws in many places ask you to keep invoices for years. We keep your documents while your account exists, but your own copy is always good practice.
- Moving to another tool. The JSON is structured data that another system or a script can read.
- Your rights under data protection law. Export is how you get a copy of your data in a portable format, at any time.
Questions
Does exporting change anything in my account?
No. An export is read-only. It is recorded in the audit log so you can see who exported and when.
Can I export one business only?
Export everything covers the whole account. To work with one business, use the business filters on the API list endpoints, or the CSV exports and reports for that business.
I am not the Owner. How do I get an export?
Ask the Owner of the account. If the Owner cannot use the export, they can contact support from the account's email address.
Errors
| Code | HTTP | When |
|---|---|---|
permission_denied | 403 | You are not the Owner. |
scope_missing | 403 | The API key lacks the account.export scope. |
not_found | 404 | The export id does not exist in this account. |
rate_limited | 429 | Too many requests. Wait for the time in Retry-After. |