Magento Export Products: Easy Step-by-Step Explanation

Exporting products from Magento should be a two-minute task, yet you probably know the drill: a quick backup before a theme update turns into an hour of CSV errors, stalled downloads, and frantic permission fixes. That friction is common, but it isn't inevitable.

This guide walks you through the built-in Magento 2 admin export, step by step. You'll see where to click, which separators to keep, and how to dodge the queue and memory pitfalls that derail large catalogs.

TL;DR: Magento Export Products at a Glance

• Magento’s native product export works well for small, one-off exports, but large catalogs often fail due to cron, permissions, or PHP memory limits.
  
• You can export products from the admin panel via System → Data Transfer → Export, choosing Products and CSV with default separators for best compatibility.
  
• Large catalogs should be exported in batches using filters (by SKU, attribute set, or product type) to avoid timeouts and stalled queues.
  
• Magento exports product data only; images must be copied separately from /pub/media/catalog/product/ or fetched via URLs.
  
• Most export failures come from three issues: unwritable var/export/, stopped queue consumers, or insufficient server resources.

What You Need Before Exporting Products

Before you start an export, confirm these essential prerequisites to avoid the most common errors.

• Access requirements: Your login needs System > Data Transfer > Export privileges in the Magento admin panel. If you don't see the Export option when you log in, your role permissions need adjustment. Ask an administrator to grant access.
  The steps work the same whether you're running Magento 2.x Open Source or Adobe Commerce, though the enterprise edition adds governance controls that matter in regulated environments.
  
• File format options: Magento's native tool outputs CSV by default, which ensures compatibility with spreadsheets and most import systems. Excel XML is available but rarely necessary unless your target system specifically requires it.
  
• Server configuration: For large catalogs, set PHP memory_limit to 2 GB minimum and max_execution_time to 1,800 seconds to prevent big exports from timing out midway through processing.

How to Export Products from Magento Using the Admin Panel

The Magento admin panel export process follows six straightforward steps:

1. Log In to the Magento Admin Dashboard

Head to your admin URL (usually /admin) and sign in with an account that has System → Data Transfer privileges. If the permission is missing, you won't see the Export option, so ask an administrator to update your role.

2. Navigate to the Export Tool

In the left sidebar, open System → Data Transfer → Export. The Export page lists every entity Magento can output (Products, Advanced Pricing, Customers, and more), and lets you pick the file format and delimiters. If "Export" isn't in the menu, make sure cron jobs are installed with:

php bin/magento cron:install

Exports rely on that queue, so a missing cron will stall every attempt.

3. Choose "Products" as the Entity Type

Select Products in the Entity Type dropdown. That choice tells Magento to include core fields like SKU, price, inventory, categories, and any child-parent links for configurable or bundle items. Stick with Products unless you're after a specialized dataset, such as attributes only.

4. Configure Export Settings

Leave Export File Format on CSV; it's the most interoperable option. A double-quote enclosure and a comma are safe defaults, while the pipe (|) remains the multiple-value separator for multiselect attributes such as categories. 

Changing delimiters only makes sense when a downstream system refuses commas. Custom attributes will appear in one additional_attributes column as comma-separated pairs, which is Magento's standard way of flattening EAV data.

5. Apply Filters to Export Specific Products (Optional)

Scroll to Entity Attributes to narrow the export. You can filter by individual SKUs, pick an attribute set such as "Clothing," limit by product type (Simple, Configurable, Bundle, Grouped), or select only Enabled items to ignore disabled listings.

Running the export with no filters will pull the entire catalog, which can time out on large stores. For catalogs exceeding 10,000 SKUs, slice the job into smaller batches (one attribute set at a time, for example) to dodge PHP memory limits. 

6. Run the Export and Download the File

Click Continue. Magento queues the job and hands it to the exportProcessor consumer, which writes the CSV to var/export/. Small catalogs finish in seconds; larger ones may need several minutes. When processing ends, a link to the file appears in the Export grid. Download it immediately or grab it later from the same screen.

Typical runtimes vary based on catalog size:

• ~1,000 products: 10–30 seconds
• ~10,000 products: 2–5 minutes
• 50,000+ products: 10–20 minutes, depending on server specs

If no file shows up after a few minutes, start the consumer manually:

php bin/magento queue:consumers:start exportProcessor

A stalled queue is the most common reason exports appear to "do nothing," especially on fresh installs.

How to Export Products with Images

Magento's product export includes only the image file paths, so you need a separate process for the actual media files. Those JPGs and PNGs live in the /pub/media/catalog/product/ directory, organized into sub-folders based on the first two characters of each filename. Pairing the CSV with those files ensures your catalog imports cleanly into another store or PIM.

Begin by generating the product CSV through the standard export from System > Data Transfer > Export. The image, small_image, and thumbnail columns will contain paths like /l/o/logitech-cordless-optical-trackman.jpg. 

Next, download the media directory using SFTP or SSH to pull the entire /pub/media/catalog/product/ folder so every referenced file is available during import. Before importing to your target system, copy that folder to the target server, then run the import with your CSV.

# example: grab images from production
scp -r user@prod:/var/www/html/pub/media/catalog/product ./product-images

If you'd rather skip manual file transfers, extensions like Firebear's Improved Import & Export add full-URL columns and can bundle images automatically. For quick one-offs, prepend your store's base URL to each path (https://yourstore.com), so downstream tools can fetch the images directly.

What are Common Product Export Issues and How to Fix Them?

Exports fail for three predictable reasons: Magento can't write the CSV, the background queue never finishes, or the data itself breaks the file. You can usually diagnose which of the three you're dealing with in minutes and apply a targeted fix rather than rerunning the entire process blindly.

Once you click Continue, Magento hands the job to the exportProcessor queue. If the CSV never appears in the grid, start by confirming the queue consumer is running and that /var/export/ is writable. For catalogs with tens of thousands of SKUs, watch PHP limits. Default values are far too low for large data sets.

File Permission Errors

File permission errors stop Magento cold when /var/export/ isn't writable. Fix this by adjusting permissions:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data var/export/
sudo chmod -R 755 var/export/

After changing permissions, flush cache and rerun the export.

Queue Consumer Problems

Queue consumer problems create the same symptom. No CSV file appears, but the cause is different. No background worker means no processing. SSH into the server and start it manually:

php bin/magento queue:consumers:start exportProcessor

Large catalogs may require --single-thread to avoid memory spikes during processing.

Server Resource Limits

Server resource limits cause the most frustrating failures because exports appear to start but never complete. A 10k-SKU catalog easily exceeds default 128M memory and 30-second execution windows. Raise them to memory_limit=2G and max_execution_time=1800 before attempting large exports again.

Data Corruption Issues

Data corruption issues manifest differently. The CSV generates but contains empty rows or malformed content. Corrupted or missing attribute data pushes rows into the additional_attributes column or drops them entirely. Bulk-edit attributes through the admin panel, reindex all data, clear cache, and try the export again.

Encoding Problems

Encoding problems create CSVs that look fine in text editors but break when opened in Excel. Non-UTF-8 characters render the file unreadable in most spreadsheet applications. Open the file in Google Sheets or LibreOffice first to preserve encoding, then resave if needed for Excel compatibility.

Best Practices for Magento Product Exports

Preventing export failures starts with smart preparation and testing. These practices keep your exports predictable as your catalog grows.

• Test before full runs: Export 10–50 products to confirm column order, encoding, and attribute mapping before committing to the entire catalog. A quick test run saves you from discovering structural issues in a 50 MB file.
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• Keep your attribute structure clean: Prune unused custom attributes and adopt consistent naming conventions. A lean attribute set prevents the additional_attributes column from turning into an unreadable jumble.
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• Verify server readiness: Before any large export, confirm /var/export/ is writable and PHP has at least a 2 GB memory limit plus 1,800 seconds of execution time.
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• Schedule regular backups: Run monthly full-catalog exports stored in cloud storage. This gives you a safety net before extensions, patches, or price changes.
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• Document your settings: Record the separators, filters, and store views you use so future exports match the structure downstream systems expect.
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• Validate every export: Open the CSV, verify row counts, and spot-check critical fields like SKU, name, and price before handing the file to another team.

When Magento's Native Export Is Not Enough

Magento's built-in CSV export works for quick backups but hits real limits once your workflows get serious. The tool only outputs CSV, caps files at roughly 10 MB, and offers no scheduling or automation. Those constraints force you back into the admin UI every time a stakeholder needs fresh data. 

Once your catalog crosses the 10,000-SKU mark or you need nightly feeds to an ERP, manual exports become an operational bottleneck. You're generating multiple partial files, stitching them together, and uploading to SFTP servers.

That's when automation matters more than the tool's zero-cost appeal. Extensions can help, but you still maintain them through every Magento upgrade. A platform-agnostic data integration service is often simpler and eliminates the manual work entirely.

For teams managing large catalogs across multiple systems, talk to sales to learn how Airbyte's capacity-based pricing keeps data movement costs predictable as your product catalog grows.

How Airbyte Can Help?

Airbyte gives you 600+ connectors and lets you schedule, transform, and deliver product data to Snowflake, BigQuery, or any warehouse you choose. You can spin up a sync in minutes and forget about file-size limits or cron wrangling. 

If you want to explore automated product exports hands-on, try Airbyte to move Magento product data without file-size limits, manual downloads, or cron troubleshooting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I export only selected products from Magento?

Yes. In the export screen's Entity Attributes table, set filters such as SKU, attribute set, product type, or status. Typing comma-separated SKUs (SKU001, SKU002, SKU003) lets you grab just those items, trimming file size and processing time. The filters are available in every Magento 2 version.

Does Magento export product images automatically?

No. The CSV contains only relative image paths like /l/o/logitech-cordless-optical-trackman.jpg. To move images, copy the entire /pub/media/catalog/product/ directory via SFTP or prepend your store's base URL to each path before importing elsewhere.

What's the maximum number of products Magento can export at once?

No hard ceiling exists, but PHP limits bite once catalogs exceed roughly 10k SKUs. If the export stalls, raise memory_limit to 2G and max_execution_time to 1800 seconds, or split the job by attribute set or SKU range.

How often should I export Magento product data?

For backups, monthly full catalog exports work well. If you sync data to ERPs, marketplaces, or BI dashboards, schedule exports weekly or daily for fast-moving inventories. When you're exporting more than once a week, automate the task to avoid repetitive manual clicks.