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How to set up scheduled exports

How to send catalog, inventory, pricing, and mapping data to your own SFTP server automatically on a schedule.

Scheduled Exports send your catalog, inventory, pricing, or mapping data to your own SFTP server automatically, on a schedule you choose — no manual download required.

You’ll find it under DATA TRANSFERS in the sidebar. The page itself is titled Recurring Export Schedules once you’re on it.

Before you start: Have your SFTP server details ready — host, port, username, password, and the folder Acenda should write to. Acenda connects out to your server; it doesn’t host one for you. Decide who on your team should know the SFTP password before you enter it, since once it’s saved, Acenda won’t display it again.

Creating a scheduled export

  1. In the sidebar, under DATA TRANSFERS, click Scheduled Exports.

  2. Click + New Schedule in the top right.

  3. Under Schedule Settings, fill in:

    • Schedule Name: a name your team will recognize.

    • Export Type: Catalog, Inventory Detail, Channel Item Mapping, SKU Presentation, Promotion, or Custom Pricing. You can’t change this once the schedule is saved.

    • Format: CSV or XLSX (XLSX is labeled Experimental). Format is also locked after you save.

  4. Under Export Fields, choose Use Existing Profile and pick a saved Export Profile, or choose Create New Profile, name it, and add the fields you want in the file.

  5. Optional: under Filters, add rules to narrow the export to matching records, and click Preview Matching Records to check what will be included before you save.

  6. Under Destination & Schedule, enter your SFTP connection: Host, Port (defaults to 22), Username, and Password. Password is the only sign-in option here — there’s no SSH key alternative.

  7. Set the File Template — the path and filename Acenda writes on your server, for example exports/catalog_${timestamp}.csv. Click the ${timestamp} button to insert that token, and use Timestamp Format to control how it renders: yyyy, yy, mm, dd, HH, MM, SS (note mm is month, MM is minute — the casing matters).

  8. Set the schedule: click a preset (Every 15 Minutes up through Every Year), or type a custom five-part cron string. Schedules run on Acenda’s server clock (UTC), not your local time zone, and a custom cron expression can’t fire more often than every 5 minutes.

  9. Click Preview filename to see the exact file name the next run will use, and Test SFTP Destination to confirm Acenda can connect to your server, create the folder, and write to it.

  10. Click Save. Saving tests the SFTP destination automatically — if the test fails, you’ll be asked to confirm Save Anyway or go back and fix the connection first.

Warning: If your File Template doesn’t include a ${timestamp} token, every run writes to the exact same file name and silently overwrites the previous file on your SFTP server.

Managing your scheduled exports

The Scheduled Exports list shows each schedule’s name, export profile, export type, format, destination, frequency, last run time, and last error or status.

  • Edit: click the pencil icon (or open the schedule) to change its settings. Export Type and Format can’t be changed after creation — delete the schedule and create a new one instead.

  • Delete: click the trash icon and confirm. There’s no separate pause or disable switch today — deleting is currently the only way to stop a schedule.

Each export type can have up to 10 scheduled exports.

A few related things worth knowing: reports built under REPORTING > Reports can’t be scheduled this way — see Generating Reports. Returns aren’t one of the export types above; recurring return files go through the Order Return Export integration instead. Files listed under DATA TRANSFERS > Imports/Exports are removed after about 120 days, and Acenda already keeps a daily catalog backup for you separately — see How to find your daily product backups.

Troubleshooting & FAQ

  • File isn’t showing up on your server: check the Last run and Last error/status columns on the Scheduled Exports list first — an error there is the most direct signal. If the schedule hasn’t reached its next scheduled run yet, there’s nothing to see.

  • Authentication failed, or Acenda can’t connect: re-check Host, Port, Username, and Password, then click Test SFTP Destination. If you’re editing an existing schedule, the stored password is hidden — re-enter it before you can test or save.

  • Running at the wrong time of day: schedules run on Acenda’s server clock, which is UTC, not your local time zone. Convert your target local time to UTC before building a custom cron expression.

  • Your SFTP server was unreachable when a run was due: that run fails and the reason shows under Last error/status. Acenda doesn’t retry immediately — it tries again at the next scheduled time.

  • A new file uploads every run, even when nothing changed: that’s expected. Scheduled Exports always uploads a fresh file on each run, whether or not the data is different from last time.

  • Save says the cron frequency is too short: a custom cron expression can’t fire more often than every 5 minutes. Use a less frequent preset or interval instead.

Related articles

Still have questions? Contact Acenda Support.

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