How to export everything from Jobber before switching

Why export everything, not just what the new system imports#

A full Jobber export protects history that a new field service system may never import. Migrations commonly move active clients, properties and open work, and leave years of completed jobs, quotes, notes and photos behind, even though those records answer warranty questions, callbacks and buyer diligence later.

The records are your company's operating history. Holding a complete, labeled copy outside any vendor means a future system change, a sale of the business or a records request does not depend on reactivating an old subscription.

Before you start: permissions, plan and timing#

Jobber exports start with the right permissions. Jobber's help center says only admin users can import and export clients, although team members with the Reports permission can export some client data, and that client exporting is available on select plans, which you can check under the Gear icon in Account and Billing.

Timing matters as much as permissions. Jobber says cancelling an account preserves it and lets you re-subscribe later to retrieve reports or other information, while permanently closing an account is final and the client hub becomes unavailable to clients. Run every export while the account is active, and leave closure until verification is done.

Step by step: exporting your Jobber records#

The export runs in a fixed order so each file can be checked against the last. Save every file into one dated archive folder as it arrives, and do not rename or edit the originals.

• 1Step 1: Confirm you are logged in as an admin and that your plan includes client export.
• 2Step 2: Export the full client list from Clients, then More Actions, then Export Clients, choosing CSV. Jobber emails the file; its CSV export handles up to 1,500 rows at a time, so lists of more than 1,499 clients arrive as several attached files.
• 3Step 3: Open Reports and list every report your plan offers that covers work records; the record families to look for are quotes, jobs, visits, invoices, payments and timesheets.
• 4Step 4: For each report, set the date range back to the day you started on Jobber, then click Export Excel Copy. If a large report fails, export it in yearly batches.
• 5Step 5: Capture your products and services list, team list and any custom fields you rely on, by export where one exists or by screenshot where it does not.
• 6Step 6: Plan a separate route for notes, photos, attachments and client hub messages.
• 7Step 7: Write a one-page index of every file, its date range and its row count.

Notes, photos and attachments need their own plan#

Notes, photos and attachments are the records most often missing after a field service migration, because spreadsheet reports are built around rows, not files. Before relying on any export, check whether job notes, internal notes and attached photos actually appear in it.

If they do not, choose a route by value. Ask Jobber support what options exist for your plan and account size. For high-value records, such as warranty jobs, large installs and recurring commercial clients, save photos and notes into folders named by client and job number. Whatever route you choose, keep the Jobber job number in each file name so files link back to the spreadsheets.

What to hand the new vendor's import team#

The new vendor's import team needs clean working copies, not your archive. Give them copies of the client CSV files and the open-work reports, and keep the originals untouched in the dated folder.

Ask in writing which fields and record types they will import, which history they will leave out and how they will match clients to properties and jobs. Their answer tells you which parts of your Jobber history will live only in the archive, and it belongs in the archive index next to the file list.

The verification checklist#

The verification checklist proves the archive is complete before the old account is cancelled. Run it with someone who did not do the exports, so assumptions get caught by a second pair of eyes.

Illustrative: a garage door company moves off Jobber#

Illustrative: a fictional garage door installation and repair company has run on Jobber since its early years and is moving to a larger field service platform after adding a commercial division. The new vendor's onboarding team offers to import active clients and open jobs only.

The COO exports the client list, which arrives as several CSV files, then exports each report back to the company's first month on Jobber. The checklist catches a missing client file and a jobs report that stopped at a default date range. Photos for warranty installs are saved by job number. Only after the revenue tie-out matches the accounting system does the owner cancel, not close, the Jobber account.

Keep the archive usable after the switch#

An archive is only useful if someone can find things in it later. Store the export in company-controlled storage with restricted access, keep a read-only master copy, and record in your data inventory what the archive holds, which years it covers and who owns it.

A complete history also matters if you ever consider licensing operational records. The SourceX fit check needs only metadata, such as system names, years covered and record families, and nothing is shared at that stage; SourceX typically works with companies of 50 or more full-time employees at peak and several years of history. If a license proceeds, the archive becomes the Supply step of the SourceX five-step transaction.