---
title: "Export your data before canceling a software subscription: a checklist"
description: "A checklist for exporting your data before you cancel a software subscription: what to pull, how to check it is complete, and what to keep for the books."
canonical: "https://lopifi.com/savings/how-to/export-your-data-before-canceling-software"
---

# Export your data before canceling a software subscription: a checklist

> A checklist for exporting your data before you cancel a software subscription: what to pull, how to check it is complete, and what to keep for the books.

Source: https://lopifi.com/savings/how-to/export-your-data-before-canceling-software
Part of: Lopifi — US GAAP books on autopilot, checked by a CPA (https://lopifi.com)

---

Series: Move and replace. Reviewed 2026-10-25.

Canceling is easy and reversible for about as long as the vendor chooses. Exporting is the step people skip, and the one they miss most a year later when an auditor, a customer or a new hire asks where something went. This is a plain checklist: what to pull, in which formats, how to prove the file is complete, what to keep for the books, and what breaks when the account goes away.

## Decide what you are exporting, and why

Start with the reason you might need the data again. There are usually four: running the work (projects, documents, contacts), proving something (invoices, approvals, contracts), answering a request (a customer asks what you agreed in March) and moving to a replacement. Each reason points to a different export, and the vendor's one big button rarely covers all of them.

- Content people made: documents, pages, messages, files, tasks, comments.
- Records of money: invoices, receipts, statements, payout reports, billing history for the tool itself.
- Records of agreements: the order form, terms, data processing terms, signed documents.
- Structure: users and roles, groups, custom fields, templates, automations, tags, workflows.
- Activity: audit logs, access logs, who changed what. Not every plan includes these.

## Find out who can run the export and what your plan allows

Export rights are often narrower than use rights. A regular member may be able to download their own work and nothing else, while a full-workspace export needs an owner, an admin or a request that someone approves. Find that person first, because they may be the one who left last quarter.

Plan tier can change the scope. Do the export on the plan you have today, before downgrading to a cheaper one or letting a trial lapse. If the plan is about to change anyway, treat the export as the first task and the downgrade as the second.

1. **Find the export screen.** Open the admin or settings area and look for export, backup or data download. Note which role it asks for.
2. **Find the person with the rights.** If you cannot see it, ask the owner of the account. Do not wait until the last week of the term.
3. **Read the limits before you start.** Read the vendor's export page for limits: what is left out, how long it can take, how long the download link works.

## Five real export routes, as published

These are the routes five vendors describe on their own help pages, read on the checked date. Menu names move, so search the vendor's help center for the page by name. We list only what the pages say; where a page says nothing, we say so.

- Slack: Workspace Owners and Admins can export public-channel messages and file links on any plan. The help page says exports include file links, not the files themselves, and that Free workspaces can only export links to files from the last 90 days. Private channels and direct messages need a separate application on Business+ or Enterprise, which the Primary Owner must approve. The format is JSON. The path on the page is Admin, Workspace settings, Security, Import & export data, then the Export tab.
- Notion: Settings, then General under Workspace, then “Export all workspace content”. Pages come out as HTML or Markdown, databases as CSV, with uploaded files. The page says an export can take up to 30 hours, the download link expires after 7 days, pages the exporter cannot access are not included, and you cannot recreate a workspace by re-uploading the export.
- Google Workspace: a super admin goes to Data, then Data import & export, then Data export. The page lists requirements, among them 2-Step Verification, an admin account at least 30 days old and, for core services such as Gmail and Drive, an active subscription. Output is zip files, one folder per user. A typical export takes about 72 hours and can take up to 14 days, and Google-provided exports are deleted 60 days after they begin.
- Trello: any board member can export a board as JSON, and Premium Workspaces can also export CSV. The page says the JSON covers the 1000 most recent actions on the board. A Workspace-wide export, available to Workspace admins on Premium, can include raw attachments and gives all comments. Cards in your Inbox are not exportable until you move them to a board.
- QuickBooks Online: Intuit says a paid subscription keeps read-only access to its data for one year after cancellation, and that paid subscribers can export to Excel or a desktop version of QuickBooks during that time. Canceled or expired free trials keep data for 90 days. Intuit recommends exporting or printing before you cancel.

## Pick formats you can still read in ten years

Prefer open, plain formats over a vendor's archive. A CSV opens in any spreadsheet, Markdown and HTML open in any browser or editor, PDF holds a document as it looked on the day, and JSON keeps structure that CSV flattens. An export that only the vendor's own tool can open is a copy in name only.

- Tables, lists, ledgers and contact lists: CSV, with the header row kept.
- Documents and wiki pages: HTML or Markdown for editing, PDF for a point-in-time record.
- Chat and ticket history: JSON for completeness, plus a readable copy of the threads you may quote.
- Money documents (invoices, statements, receipts): PDF, plus the CSV behind them.
- Files: the originals, not links to files. A link that points back at the vendor stops working with the account.

## Prove the export is complete

Do this before you cancel, while you can still go back to the live tool and run the export again. The vendor's progress message tells you the job ended; it does not tell you the file is right.

1. **Count.** Write down record counts in the live tool: pages, boards, channels, contacts, invoices, files. Count the same things in the export.
2. **Spot-check old, new and odd.** Open the oldest items, the newest items and a few large or unusual ones. Check that attachments open, not just that their names appear.
3. **Tie the money.** For anything financial, total the export and compare it with your general ledger or the vendor's own billing history. The sums should agree to the cent.
4. **Check what the page said would be missing.** Look for the gaps the vendor warned about: private items, files not included, history capped at a recent window, items the exporter could not see. Re-run as an account that can see more, if one exists.
5. **Read the status, not just the email.** Check the export status the vendor shows. Google, for example, reports Failed, Errors or Complete, and Errors means some data is missing.
6. **Freeze it.** Keep the original export untouched, open a copy to work with, and write the date and who ran it in a short note next to the files.

## Keep what the books and the tax return may need

Exports for software that touched money are accounting records, not clutter. Keep the vendor's invoices and receipts for the tool itself, the order form and any email that changed the price, plus exports from tools that produced invoices, payroll, expenses or tax figures. Store them outside the vendor's cloud, in the place the rest of your financial records live, with access limited to the people who need them.

If you paid for the term in advance, the unused months sit in [prepaid expenses](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/prepaid-expense) until they release. Tell your bookkeeper the cancellation date so the schedule is closed or written off on purpose, not by accident.

How long to keep each kind of record, and whether personal data in an export carries its own limits on keeping or deleting it, depends on your jurisdiction and your contracts. We do not state a period here. Ask your CPA or counsel, and write the answer into your records policy.

## What vendors typically do after you cancel

There is no standard. Some keep the account readable for a while, some lock it at the end of the term, and some delete on a schedule that is only written in the terms or a support reply. The pages we read show the spread:

Whatever the answer, keep the vendor's reply. If you also want data removed sooner, ask for deletion in writing and ask for a confirmation once it is done. Do not rely on a blog's “30 to 90 days” as your vendor's rule; only the vendor's own terms count.

- QuickBooks Online: read-only access for one year after a paid cancellation, 90 days for a canceled or expired trial, and an account suspended after a declined card has 14 days to update billing before you must re-subscribe to get the data back.
- Google Workspace: the Data export page says core service data is excluded when the subscription is canceled or suspended, and that deleted data is not exported unless Vault retained or held it.
- Slack, Notion and Trello: the pages we read describe how to export, not what happens to your data after cancellation. Do not assume a grace period. Ask the vendor, in writing, for the deletion date and whether the workspace stays readable.

## Integrations, shared links and logins

A tool is usually wired into other things, and the wiring is the part exports do not capture. Make a list before you cancel, using the admin console's connected apps or integrations screen, your single sign-on provider, your payment card statements and your team's chat for “we use X to…”.

- Inbound: forms, webhooks, email forwards and API keys that send data into the tool. Switch them off or repoint them.
- Outbound: automations and connectors that send data out of it to a spreadsheet, a ledger, a CRM or a chat channel. Find what depends on them.
- Shared links, public pages, embedded widgets and guest access that people outside the company use. A dead link is a customer asking where the page went; add a redirect or a note where you can.
- Logins: remove the app from single sign-on, revoke API tokens and OAuth grants, and rotate any shared password. See [offboarding SaaS accounts](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/offboard-saas-accounts).
- Domains and email: DNS records, sending domains and forwarding addresses the vendor asked you to add. Remove them when the account closes.
- Billing: payment methods on file, and the [accounts payable](https://lopifi.com/md/glossary/accounts-payable) vendor record, so a final charge is not a surprise.

## Then cancel, and keep proof

Once the export is verified, cancel inside the notice window and keep the confirmation. Take a screenshot of the canceled state and save the confirmation email with the exports. Put a reminder a month later to check that the charge stopped and that no new one appeared on your card. For notice periods and fees, see [canceling without penalties](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/cancel-without-penalties).

If you are replacing the tool, build the new one first and move the live work before you cancel. See [consolidating into one suite](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/consolidate-into-one-suite), and find what else is still paying out with the [software spend audit checklist](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/software-spend-audit-checklist). The [browser audit](https://lopifi.com/savings/audit) reads a report on your own device and sends nothing out of the browser.

## Limits

General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice. What you must keep, for how long, and what you must delete is a question for your CPA or counsel. The vendor details above are what each help page said on the checked date; plans and policies change, so read the page again on the day you export.

## Common questions

### Should I export before or after I cancel?

Export first, then cancel. Some vendors keep an account readable for a fixed time after cancellation and some change what you can export when the plan changes, so the safe order is a full export on the plan you hold today. QuickBooks Online is one example of a vendor that publishes a read-only window, and Google Workspace is one that excludes core service data once the subscription is canceled.

### How do I know the export is complete?

Open it and compare it with the live tool. Count records in both, spot-check a handful of old items and a handful of recent ones, confirm attachments opened, and make sure the totals in a financial export match what your ledger shows. A file that exists is not a file that is complete.

### Which exports count as business records?

Keep anything that supports a number in your books or a promise to a customer, employee or regulator: invoices, receipts, contracts, approvals, payroll and tax documents, and signed agreements. How long is a question for your CPA or counsel, because it depends on the record and where you operate.

### Can I import the export into another tool?

Not always, and the difference is concrete. Notion's help page says you cannot recreate a workspace by re-uploading an export, and Trello's says JSON or CSV exports cannot be imported to re-create a board. Treat an export as an archive you can read, and plan the move into a new tool as its own piece of work.

### Is it worth exporting from a tool we barely used?

Yes, if it holds anything you might need to prove later. A mostly empty account still has invoices, a user list and the terms you agreed to. A short export takes minutes and saves a support ticket in a year.

### Who deletes the data, and when?

Ask the vendor in writing when your data is deleted after cancellation and whether it can be deleted sooner on request. If personal data about customers or employees is involved, laws or contracts may set duties on how long you keep it and when you delete it; that is a question for counsel, and we do not state a rule here.

## Sources

- [Slack Help: export your workspace data](https://slack.com/help/articles/201658943-Export-your-workspace-data) (read 2026-10-25)
- [Notion Help: export your content](https://www.notion.com/help/export-your-content) (read 2026-10-25)
- [Google Workspace Admin Help: export all your organization's data](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/migrate/export-all-your-organizations-data) (read 2026-10-25)
- [Atlassian Support: exporting data from Trello](https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/exporting-data-from-trello/) (read 2026-10-25)
- [Intuit: what happens to my QuickBooks Online data after I cancel](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/access-permissions/happens-quickbooks-online-data-cancel/L6qDpbE1B_US_en_US) (read 2026-10-25)

## Keep going

- [Cancelling without penalties](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/cancel-without-penalties): How to end a software subscription cleanly: find the term and notice window, cancel in writing, export your data, and avoid paying for an unused year.
- [Offboarding SaaS accounts](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/offboard-saas-accounts): Remove a leaver's seats, shared logins and SSO access in order, keep their data with an owner, and put the freed licenses to work or cancel them.
- [Dropbox migration, in depth](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/dropbox-migration): A start-to-finish plan for leaving Dropbox: inventory, destination, pilot, copy and verify, shared links, cutover, cancellation and how the books treat it.
- [Open-source licenses for founders](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to/open-source-licenses): MIT, Apache, MPL, GPL and AGPL in plain English for founders who run open-source software instead of paying a license, and what each asks you to do.
- [Run the free audit](https://lopifi.com/savings/audit)
- [All how-to guides](https://lopifi.com/md/savings/how-to)

*General information, not tax, legal or accounting advice.*