Data import and export

Oracle Eloqua enables you to import or export contacts or accounts. You can do this one-time or schedule imports or exports to occur on a regular basis. For example, you might need to export contact information so that you can maintain internal lists or import contacts after a trade show.

In this topic, you'll learn about:

Methods for importing or exporting contacts or accounts

The following table describes the methods that you can use to import or export contacts or accounts:

Goal Method Description
Upload contact or account data
  • Upload wizard
  • Data import tool
If you want to upload contact or account data on a one-time basis, you can use the upload wizard (available from Audience > Contacts or form Audience > Accounts). See Uploading contacts and Uploading accounts for more information.

If you want to schedule the upload to occur regularly or if you want to upload from an SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) server, you can use the import tool (available from Audience > Tools > Data Export and Import). See Importing contacts or accounts and and SFTP troubleshooting for more information.

You can use these methods to:

  • Add or update contacts or accounts
  • Unsubscribe contacts
  • Identify contacts with hard bouncebacks
  • Delete contacts or accounts
Export contact or account data
  • Segment export
  • Data export tool
For a one-time export of contacts or accounts, you export the members of a segment. See Exporting segment contacts for more information.

If you need to schedule the export to occur regularly, you can use the export tool (available from Audience > Tools > Data Export and Import). Using this tool, you can export all contacts, or use contacts in a segment or contact list. You can download the export file or store it on your own SFTP server. See Exporting contacts or accounts and SFTP troubleshooting for more information.

Note: For a programmatic way to import or export your account or contact data, you can use the Bulk API. This RESTful API is designed to support high volume data transfers and can be used for CRM and data warehousing integrations or extending Oracle Eloqua's functionality. See the Oracle Eloqua Developer Help Center for more information.

SFTP troubleshooting

If you are having issues with importing or exporting via a SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) server, see these troubleshooting tips:

  • Email addresses containing a non-breaking space are invalid, and you should receive a validation error when attempting to update to a contact with a non-breaking space in their email address. You must update email addresses containing non-breaking spaces as data imports including these email addresses will fail.
  • Oracle Eloqua only accepts the host key when connecting to the SFTP server for the first time and does not accept changes to the host key automatically without user intervention, otherwise it would be a security risk. If the host key changes, the user needs to recreate the SFTP server configuration in Eloqua.
  • Check SFTP server configuration to ensure it meets the requirements for Eloqua
  • Check firewall/antivirus settings to ensure SFTP port/files are not blocked
  • Check all Eloqua IP addresses in OCI are whitelisted
  • Check SFTP server logs for any errors corresponding to the sync timestamps
  • Test SFTP server connection and file transfer using a standard SFTP client (such as WinSCP) both from Eloqua and outside Eloqua network
  • Test SFTP server connection and file transfer using Data Export and Import Tools in Eloqua
  • (If auto synch)Test auto synch for the same client instance using a different SFTP server
  • (If auto synch)Test auto synch using different file sizes and extensions
  • Submit SR for support to create collaboration ticket with Operations to investigate any network related issue corresponding to the timestamps

Next steps

Importing contacts or accounts

Exporting contacts or accounts

Viewing the results of data imports or exports

Keeping a copy of data import and export files

Data import priority

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