CSV Export Guide

Export filtered orders with your selected columns to CSV format. Perfect for accounting, fulfillment partners, marketing analysis, and custom reporting.

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Tip: CSV columns appear in the same order as your visible columns in the orders list. Reorder columns in Screen Options before exporting to control CSV column arrangement.

What Gets Exported

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OrderFusion exports:

• Orders: Orders matching your current filters (or all orders if no filters applied)
• Columns: Only columns currently visible in your orders list
• Format: CSV format compatible with Excel, Google Sheets, and accounting software
• Encoding: UTF-8 encoding supporting international characters

Exporting Orders

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1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Orders
2. Apply filters to select the orders you want (optional – skip this step to export all orders)
3. Enable the columns you want in the export via Screen Options
4. Select orders:
   – For specific orders: Check the boxes next to each order you want to export
   – For all filtered orders: Leave all boxes unchecked
5. Open the Bulk actions dropdown above the orders list
6. Select an export option:
   – Export selected to CSV: Exports only checked orders
   – Export All to CSV: Exports all orders matching your filters (or all orders if no filters)
7. Click Apply

A progress bar appears above the orders list. Your browser downloads the CSV file when the export completes.

Note: Keep the browser tab open during export. Large exports may take several minutes depending on order count and server performance.

Use Cases

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Accounting

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Scenario: Monthly bookkeeping reconciliation

Workflow:

1. Apply filters:
   – Date range: First to last day of month
   – Status: Completed
2. Enable columns:
   – Order (shows order number and customer name)
   – Date
   – Total
   – Payment method
   – Invoice number (if you use invoice plugins)
3. Export to CSV
4. Import into accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, etc.)

Why this works: Completed orders represent actual revenue. Payment method helps categorize transactions (credit card fees, bank deposits). Invoice numbers match your accounting records.

Tip: You can create a custom view called “Accounting – This Month” with these settings, then load it monthly, adjust the date range, and export.

Fulfillment

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Scenario: Bulk upload to courier system

Workflow:

1. Apply filters:
   – Status: Processing
2. Enable columns:
   – Order (shows order number and customer name)
   – Products
   – Ship to country
   – Ship to state
   – Ship to (full shipping address)
   – Phone (for delivery issues)
3. Export to CSV
4. Format/upload to courier’s bulk import system

Why this works: Processing orders need shipping. Address and phone data enable bulk label generation.

Marketing

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Scenario: Email campaign targeting

⚠️ Privacy Note: Ensure your email marketing complies with GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and other regulations. Only email customers who consented to marketing communications.

Workflow:

1. Apply filters:
   – Customer role: Customer (registered users only)
   – Date range: Last 90 days
   – Total: $100+ (high-value customers)
2. Enable columns:
   – Order (shows order number and customer name)
   – Email
   – Total
   – Products (to segment by purchase category)
3. Export to CSV
4. Import into email marketing tool (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, etc.)

Why this works: Registered customers opted in to communications. Recent high-value buyers are receptive to additional offers. Product data enables segmentation (“bought shirts” -> send jeans promotion).

Reporting

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Scenario: Quarterly revenue analysis

Workflow:

1. Apply filters:
   – Date range: Q1 (Jan 1 – Mar 31)
   – Status: Completed + Refunded (include both for accurate net revenue)
2. Enable columns:
   – Order (shows order number and customer name)
   – Date
   – Total
   – Status
   – Payment method
   – Coupon (to track discount impact)
3. Export to CSV
4. Analyze in Excel/Google Sheets:
   – Sum totals by month
   – Group by payment method
   – Calculate refund rate
   – Track coupon usage

Why this works: Completed + Refunded gives full picture (gross revenue minus refunds = net revenue). Coupons show marketing effectiveness. Payment methods inform financial planning.

Tip: Create custom views for Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 with appropriate date ranges. Load the view, update filter values at quarter end, then export and analyze.

Custom Reporting

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Scenario: Operations dashboard data

Workflow:

1. Create custom columns (if needed):
   – “Delivery Date” (custom date field)
   – “Department” (custom dropdown field)
   – “Priority” (custom checkbox)
2. Apply filters:
   – Date range: This week
   – Custom filter: Priority = Yes
3. Enable columns:
   – Order (shows order number and customer name)
   – Delivery Date (custom column)
   – Department (custom column)
   – Status
4. Export to CSV
5. Import into business intelligence tools or create pivot tables

Why this works: Custom columns surface business-specific data. Export feeds external dashboards, reporting tools, or management spreadsheets.

Working with CSV Files

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Opening in Excel

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1. Double-click the downloaded CSV file
2. Excel opens the file automatically

If Excel displays garbled text or data appears in one column:

1. Open blank Excel workbook
2. Go to Data > From Text/CSV
3. Select your CSV file
4. In the preview dialog, select UTF-8 from the encoding dropdown
5. If columns don’t separate correctly, check the delimiter setting (comma or semicolon)
6. Click Load

Opening in Google Sheets

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Method 1: Upload

1. Go to Google Sheets
2. Click File > Import
3. Upload your CSV file
4. Choose Replace spreadsheet or Insert new sheet
5. Click Import

Method 2: Drag and drop

1. Go to Google Drive
2. Drag CSV file to Drive
3. Right-click > Open with > Google Sheets

Excel/Sheets Tips

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Sum a column:

• Select the column, look at the status bar for automatic sum
• Or use formula: =SUM(D:D) (sums entire column D)

Filter rows:

• Click any cell in your data
• Click Data > Filter
• Use dropdown arrows to filter by values

Create pivot table:

• Select your data
• Click Insert > Pivot Table
• Drag columns to Rows/Columns/Values areas

Tips and Best Practices

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Combine Custom Views with Export

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Workflow:

1. Create custom view: “Monthly Revenue Report”
   – Filters: Date range (this month), Status (Completed)
   – Columns: Order, Date, Total, Payment method
2. First of each month:
   – Load “Monthly Revenue Report”
   – Update date range to previous month
   – Export
3. Import to accounting software

Why this works: Custom view ensures consistent reports. You never forget which columns or filters to use.

Export Settings

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Configure export options at WooCommerce > Settings > OrderFusion tab:

CSV Export Format

WooCommerce Style (grouped data): Combines related information in single columns. Order column includes both order ID and customer name, billing details and payment method appear together, shipping details and shipping method appear together. More compact format.

Table Style (one column per field): Separates each piece of data into its own column. Adds separate columns for customer name, payment method, and shipping method. Better for sorting and filtering in spreadsheets.

Export Batch Size

Number of orders to process per batch (default: 500). The plugin always processes orders in batches. This setting can be adjusted to tune export performance for your server configuration.

Automation

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OrderFusion doesn’t support automated scheduled exports. If this feature would be useful for your workflow, let us know through the support or feature request channel.

Troubleshooting

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Where is my exported file?

Your browser downloads the CSV file to your default downloads folder. Wait for the export to complete (progress bar finishes), then check:

• Chrome/Edge: Downloads bar at bottom of browser, or Downloads folder
• Firefox: Downloads list (Ctrl+J / Cmd+J), or Downloads folder
• Safari: Downloads folder in Finder

Note: Browser behavior depends on your download settings (some auto-open, some save to folder).

What program opens CSV files?

CSV files are spreadsheet files that open in:

• Microsoft Excel (Windows/Mac)
• Google Sheets (upload the file)
• LibreOffice Calc (free alternative)
• Apple Numbers (Mac)

Double-click the downloaded file to open it with your default spreadsheet program.

Excel shows “####” instead of numbers

Column is too narrow to display the value. Double-click the column border to auto-resize, or drag to widen.

Data appears in one column instead of multiple columns

Excel might be using the wrong delimiter. Open Excel, go to Data > From Text/CSV, select your file, and choose Comma as the delimiter.

Export takes too long

Apply filters to narrow results before exporting. Exporting thousands of orders takes longer than hundreds.

Export doesn’t start or progress bar appears stuck

Don’t close the browser tab. The export processes in batches. Wait for the download to complete.

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