How to back up and restore your store data

Help center / Account and data

Your workspace saves as you work, and a backup is a copy you keep yourself. Download one from Settings before big changes, and use it to put the workspace back the way it was.

Download a backup

1. Open Settings.
2. Choose Download workspace backup.
3. Save the file somewhere safe. Its name starts with shelfwise-workspace and ends with the date.

The file is plain JSON with your stores, products, fixtures, planograms, approvals, maps, stock, sales and history. It is not encrypted, so store it like any business record. It covers the business that is open when you download it, so switch business first if you run more than one.

Restore from backup

1. In Settings, under Restore a workspace, choose Choose backup and pick the file.
2. Review the summary of what it contains: stores, products, fixtures, planograms, store maps, stock counts, sales entries, suppliers and customers.
3. Confirm with Back up current & restore. headoffis downloads a backup of your current workspace first, then replaces it.

Restoring needs the Restore or clear workspace data permission, which the Owner and Admin roles include and custom roles can be given. The file must be smaller than 20 MB. If headoffis cannot read the file, it says so and replaces nothing.

Is my data saved automatically?

Yes. Every change saves to your headoffis account as you make it, and everyone in your business sees the same copy on any device once they sign in. A backup is not needed to keep your work. It gives you a fixed copy from a known date, which you can return to after a mistake or keep for your own records.

What does a backup include?

A backup holds the operational data of one business:

• Products, fixtures, planograms, approvals, checklist progress and store maps.
• Stock counts, stock activity, sales, voids and replenishment settings.
• Suppliers, customers, workflows and integration mappings.
• Workspace history.

It does not hold accounts, roles, location assignments, the Work board or workflow run history. Those stay with the business and are not changed by a restore. A restore cannot remove a location that still has people or work assigned.

What a restore changes

• It replaces the operational data and integration mappings in the open business.
• Restored workflows are turned off so you can review them before enabling them again. A restore never runs a workflow.
• Restored mappings never connect to Square or QuickBooks or start any synchronization.
• Backups from older versions upgrade automatically. One made before suppliers and customers existed opens with empty directories, so restoring it clears your current contacts. One made before inventory existed restores with stock uncounted, and no quantities are guessed from planograms.

Start over with an empty catalog

To remove sample data or begin again, use Clear catalog & layouts in Settings. It removes every product, fixture, planogram, store map, approval and checklist, along with stock counts, sales and replenishment settings. Your business name, stores, suppliers and customers stay. A backup downloads first, and the same permission as a restore is required.

The JSON backup file

JSON is a plain text format, so any text editor can open the file. That makes it easy to inspect, but do not edit it by hand: a restore checks the file and refuses one it cannot read. Anyone who has the file can read your products, prices and sales, so share it only with people you trust.

Where to store backup files

Keep at least one copy away from the device you use every day, such as on a separate drive or in a business cloud folder with its own password. A common rule of data backup for small business is the 3-2-1 backup rule. Keep three copies of your data on two different kinds of storage, with one kept off site. The CISA ransomware guide recommends offline, encrypted backups that you test from time to time, and NIST's cybersecurity basics for small businesses treats regular backups as a core habit.

How often should you back up data?

Save a fresh backup before any restore or catalog clean-up, before a store reset, and before you change many products at once. Between those, a regular schedule such as once a week keeps a recent copy on hand. headoffis downloads a backup on its own before a restore or a clear, but a copy you saved on purpose, with a date you chose, is easier to find later.

Common mistakes

• Restoring into the wrong business. Check the business selector before you choose a file.
• Expecting a restore to bring back people. Accounts and roles are not in the file; manage them in People & roles.
• Keeping only one copy, on the same device that might fail.

Coming soon

← All help articles