Create a Data Extract File

Create a file to use outside of the application with Automation Studio’s Data Extract activity. This activity can also be
used to transform an XML file to a comma-delimited, tab-delimited, or pipe-delimited file for import into your
account.

1. Click Create Activity.

2. Select Data Extract.
3. Add a name, external key, and description for the activity.
4. Enter a file naming pattern so that the activity knows what to name the file it creates. Use when you have set
up a workflow to drop a file whose auto-generated filename matches a pattern into the file location. Enter a static
name or include placeholders for the date. Use the following personalization strings in your filename: %%Year%%
%%Month%% %%Day%% %%Hour%% %%Minute%% %%Second%%
5. To determine the web analytics tools used to interpret the extracted file, select an extract type. The value you
select determines the data you can include in the file.

NOTE Extract types must be provisioned for your account. Contact your Salesforce Marketing Cloud
representative for more information.

6. To determine the date range for information to include in the extract file, select an extract range. Choose 1
day, 7 days, or 30 days.
7. Select a type of file encoding to use.
8. Configure the extract by choosing the fields that appear in the data extract file.
a. Select a field name to include it in the data extract file.
b. If the data extract you choose includes the columnDelimiter field, insert the character you wish to
use as a delimiter within the data extract.
c. Valid choices include the following characters:
 ,
 tab
 |

NOTE When setting time zone for the output file, select Use Local TZ in Query. When this option is not
selected, the output file defaults to Central Standard Time and does not observe Daylight Savings Time.
Best Practices Getting started

Automation Options: 
There are two types of automations you can create within Automation Studio:
User-Initiated Automation - these are automations scheduled or started based on a user defined time or
parameters. Users can select to run automations immediately/one time, scheduled/one time, or
scheduled/recurring
file drop Automations - automations that are prompted to run when a file is dropped into a designated Enhanced
FTP folder.  Triggered automations do not run on a schedule; rather, they run automatically whenever the
Enhanced FTP folder detects the addition of a new file.
TIP: There are a lot of ways to use the triggered sends. One of the most common use case is Abandoned Cart.
Triggered Automations in Automation Studio allows you to send Abandoned Cart messages in real time instead
of wait 24 hours for other programs to activate the communication.