Back up your business as an archive
Export every entity in your YionStack business — accounts, contacts, invoices, expenses, websites — as one portable YionStack Business Archive v1 file. The archive is restorable, auditable, and human-readable.
In this guide
Setup- Steps
- 5
- Prereqs
- 2
- Pitfalls
- 3 common ones
- Related
- 3 guides
Walkthrough only — no setup wizard. The flow is exactly what you do inside YionStack today.
Before you start
- Owner role on the business — exporting touches every table, not just what your day-to-day role can see.
- A safe destination for the archive (your own cloud drive, an external disk, a solicitor-held vault).
Steps
- 1
Open the business backup page
Go to Settings → Business → Backup. The page shows the last export (if any), the entity count per table, and the estimated archive size.
- 2
Pick what goes in
By default every restorable entity is included: accounts, invoices, invoice line items, recurring invoices, invoice reminders, expenses, contacts, companies, marketing leads, websites, pages, domains, campaigns, cash records, security records, audit logs. Untick any group you do not want in the export.
- 3
Choose the format
Pick either the YionStack Business Archive v1 format (a ZIP with JSON per entity, restorable into another YionStack business) or per-table CSV (for handing to an accountant).
- 4
Run the export
Trigger the export. The job runs in the background and emails you when it is ready (large businesses take a few minutes). You stay logged in, the export does not block anything.
- 5
Download and store
Download the archive from the email link or from the Backup page. Move it to your safe destination. The download link expires after 7 days; re-trigger if you need it again.
Common pitfalls
Restoring overwrites only by natural key
Restoring a YionStack Business Archive into another business deduplicates on natural keys (email for contacts, account code for accounts). Records that already exist in the target are not overwritten silently — the import surfaces them for review.
Attachments not in the archive
Invoice PDFs, expense receipts and uploaded files are stored on R2 and referenced by URL in the archive. The archive itself is small; the attachments stay where they are. For a full point-in-time backup, also export the file storage from Settings → Files.
GDPR data subject requests
The archive includes personal data. For a DSAR response specifically, use Settings → Data → Data Subject Request instead — it scopes the export to the requesting subject and applies the correct redaction rules.
Need a hand with this one?
If a step is missing or unclear, tell us — every guide is a working document we improve as customers ask.