As an ecommerce platform, Shopify does a great job of taking a lot of infrastructure planning and headaches off your plate as a merchant. That said, you can't assume Shopify can restore your store if products are deleted, a bulk update goes wrong, an app overwrites data, or a theme deployment causes problems.

Shopify provides tools to create a store backup, including CSV exports for certain store data and downloadable theme files. The catch is that an export is not necessarily a complete, restorable backup. Some data can be reimported, some requires additional tools or APIs, and other information may still need to be recreated manually.

As a Shopify merchant, knowing this in advance is extremely important. Every brand should have a Shopify disaster recovery plan in place that answers three questions:

1. What are you backing up? 

2. Can you actually restore it? 

3. How long would recovery take if something went wrong?

In this blog, we’ll break down what Shopify lets you export, what you can and cannot easily restore, which store data needs separate protection, and how to test your recovery process before you ever encounter any issues. 

Does Shopify automatically back up my store?

Not in the sense of a merchant-accessible backup that lets you roll your store back to an earlier point in time. Shopify manages the underlying platform and infrastructure, but it doesn’t provide a built-in point-in-time restore for an individual store. Instead, Shopify recommends creating your own backups manually or using a third-party backup app, since recovery depends on backups or exports you created before the deletion.

This is because of the SaaS “shared responsibility” model where the platform handles uptime and security while the user is responsible for keeping their own content and data safe. That is why Shopify recommends manual backups or third-party apps to safeguard and back up your store’s data. 

Can Shopify restore deleted products or pages?

Not directly, no. If you accidentally delete products, pages, blog posts, or other content, Shopify doesn’t provide a general point-in-time ‘undo’ to restore deleted products, pages, blog posts, or other store content to an earlier state. Shopify therefore recommends maintaining your own backups rather than relying on the platform itself to restore deleted store data.

The only way to recover lost items is through your own backups. For products and customers, you can export CSVs in advance and re-import if needed. That said, CSV recovery still has limitations: Product CSVs can contain product image URLs and supported product metafields, while customer exports can include customer tags and supported metafields. 

However, the CSV isn't a complete snapshot of every related Shopify resource. Product images themselves aren't embedded in the CSV, variant metafields aren't supported in product CSV import/export, and other store relationships and configuration may need separate backup methods. 

Product CSVs contain URLs to product images rather than embedding the image files themselves. For a more resilient backup, keep independent copies of important product media instead of assuming those URLs will always remain available. Product CSVs also don't support 3D models or videos.

Instead, proactively back up your Store to .csv files from your Shopify admin, or use an app like Rewind Backups or Altera to save and restore your information. 

What store data should be backed up separately?

Back up almost everything important in your store externally. Shopify auto-saves live data (so it won’t accidentally wipe the database), but any user actions (deletions or bad changes) are final unless you back them up. Key data types to consider backing up include:

1. Products: This covers titles, descriptions, SKUs, prices, inventory, etc. Note: CSVs don’t include product images (only URLs); download theme and product images separately (e.g., via the Files admin or an app).

2. Customers: Names, emails, tags, etc.

3. Orders: Export orders via CSV from Shopify Admin > Orders > Export. Shopify only lets you export existing orders; you can’t re-import orders through the admin (only via third-party apps or the API).

4. Discount & Gift Card Codes: You can transfer gift card products using the product CSV, but you can't transfer issued gift cards when duplicating a store. Shopify lets you export issued gift-card information for reference, including outstanding balances, but the standard export includes only the last four characters of each gift-card code and can't be used alone to recreate those cards.

5. Collections & Tags: Product CSV exports include product tags, and customer CSV exports can include customer tags. Collections require more care: Shopify's standard product export doesn't automatically include a Collection column, although you can add one when preparing a product CSV to preserve collection information. Because a basic product export may not fully represent collection rules, structure, and relationships, document or back up important collections separately.

6. Themes: Download each theme’s code (Shopify lets you download your current theme). Keep copies of any unpublished or older themes, too. (Premium themes from the Shopify Theme Store may not be transferable to another account, so also keep local backups.)

7. Pages & Blogs: Shopify has no built-in export for pages or blog posts. You must copy these manually or use a site download tool/API. Text and images on pages are part of your content to save.

8. Navigation Menus: You must recreate menus manually if you lose them; Shopify doesn’t export them via CSV. An app or custom script could export them via API.

9. Files/Assets: Download the Files section (images, videos, PDFs uploaded to Shopify). Shopify’s standard CSV exporters list file URLs but won’t download the media itself. Use a tool or script to save all files locally.

10. Metafields and Metaobjects: Backup coverage depends on the resource type. Shopify's product CSV supports many product metafields, and customer CSVs can include supported customer metafields. Variant metafields aren't supported in product CSV import/export. Back up metaobjects and other custom-data relationships separately using an appropriate app or the Shopify Admin API, especially when other resources reference them.

11. App Data: Any data created or stored by third-party apps (reviews, analytics, loyalty points, form entries, etc.) lives outside Shopify’s core data exports but should still be counted when you’re planning your backups. Check each app: some have export tools or APIs. Treat this as a separate “system” and back it up per the vendor’s instructions, or export it from that system.

12. Custom App Databases: If you have private apps or custom integrations with their own databases, you must back up those databases (via SQL dump or other means) just as you would any external service.

13. Integration Settings & Credentials: Document and back up information like API keys, channel integrations (e.g., Amazon, POS), and workflow configs externally (password vault, documentation). 

To summarize simply: assume all user-generated content in your Shopify account needs a backup plan. 

Recommended Shopify backup methods

Here are all the ways to create a backup of your Shopify store:

• Native Exports and Downloads: Use Shopify’s built-in CSV exports (for products, customers, orders, etc.) and theme downloads. This is free and accessible in the admin. However, it’s labour-intensive and incomplete (pages, menus, metafields, etc. are missing). If you go this route, schedule regular exports and store the files securely (e.g., in cloud storage). For theme code, always download your theme after major changes as a safeguard.

• Automated Backup Apps: Backup apps can automate snapshots, maintain historical versions and provide restoration tools for supported Shopify resources. Coverage varies by provider, so verify exactly which resources, media, metafields, inventory data, app data, and relationships you can back up and restore before relying on an app as your disaster-recovery solution.

• API or Custom Scripts: For tech-savvy teams or brands supported by an agency, writing custom scripts using the Shopify API can extract all data, as Shopify’s APIs allow exporting virtually any store data (products, customers, orders, etc.). You could automate daily API pulls into a storage bucket or database. This is flexible but requires development effort and upkeep. Note that exporting files like images via API still requires separately downloading the media from URLs.

• Hybrid Approach: Combine native and automated: e.g. use CSV exports for financial data/reports, but rely on an app for live data. Or use a backup app but also keep periodic manual snapshots of your most critical data offline.

• Backup of External Systems: Don’t forget any external systems. For example, if you sync inventory with an ERP, back up the ERP data too. If you use Google Analytics or email lists, follow their backup best practices.

While Shopify lets you back up most of your data manually in the admin, consider an automated solution if you want to ensure everything important to your business is safe.

Recovery Plan and Runbook

Every online store should have a backup solution and a documented recovery plan, so everyone knows what to do when data is lost. Start by regularly monitoring alerts. If something comes up, assess the issue's severity and notify stakeholders. Decide who will restore and who will communicate with the team. 

For minor losses, restore only the affected resource where possible. You can recreate a deleted product from a product CSV or a compatible backup app. Pages and blog content require a different recovery method, such as a compatible backup app, API-based process or a previously saved copy. For major losses, you may need to use bulk CSV imports or trigger an app restore for multiple categories. 

Before going live with the restore, verify everything is correct in a safe way (more on that below), then roll your changes out to the live store and test store functionality. 

How often should a Shopify recovery test be performed?

Test backup plans regularly and after major changes. For small stores, at least an annual full-restore test (off-hours) is a minimum. For busy or rapidly changing/growing stores, quarterly or monthly drills make more sense. Also, test whenever you launch a big update or holiday campaign. 

Also define your Recovery Point Objective (RPO), how much data loss you can tolerate, and your Recovery Time Objective (RTO), how quickly you must be back online. For each data type, set a backup interval to meet your RPO, and practice restores to meet your RTO. 

Whenever possible, test recovery in a non-production environment rather than restoring over live store data. A separate Shopify store or dev environment can help, but remember that Shopify's native duplication process doesn't create a perfect clone: apps, settings, pages, menus, and other resources may require separate configuration or migration. 

Your recovery test should therefore verify both the restored data and its dependencies. Hands-on recovery testing is the best way to uncover gaps that documentation alone won't reveal. Test critical resources and dependencies individually, and periodically run a broader end-to-end recovery exercise when your risk profile justifies it. 

Don’t forget to document what happened during each test and update your plan based on anything you may have learned during your drill. For example, if recovering orders from CSV took too long, you might shorten backup frequency or try a faster restore method.

Conclusion

A solid, reliable Shopify backup strategy means knowing what's protected, how to recover each part, who is responsible for recovery, and how long the process takes.

Start by identifying the data and systems that are critical to your business, including products, customers, themes, content, files, metafields and metaobjects, apps, integrations, and any custom databases. Then establish appropriate backup methods, RPO and RTO targets, and a regular schedule for recovery testing.

Most importantly, test your backups. Discovering an incomplete backup or a difficult restore during an actual data-loss incident is far too late.

If you need help developing a Shopify backup and disaster recovery strategy, Blue Badger is a Shopify Platinum Partner agency with the technical expertise to help. Our team can help merchants assess backup coverage, protect critical store data, review apps and integrations, establish/test recovery processes, and recover your store from backups. Contact us today to learn more.