How to schedule WooCommerce order exports
You will have a WooCommerce order export that runs on its own, sent where you need it, and you will know which orders it skips.
Checked against WooCommerce: Customer / Order / Coupon Export on September 13, 2026.
Before you start
- Administrator access to WP admin
- The Customer / Order / Coupon Export extension active on the store
- A site that supports background processing
- The destination details: FTP credentials, an endpoint, or an address for the file
Steps
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Confirm the site can run work in the background
In WP admin, go to WooCommerce > Status and check the PHP version and the background processing note, because automated exports depend on it.
You should see a status page with no warning about background processing.
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Open the automated exports screen
In WP admin, go to WooCommerce > Export > Automated Exports and select Add New.
You should see an empty automated export with Enabled, Export name, Output type, Export type, Filename and Format settings.
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Name the export
On the new export, enter an Export name that says what the file is for, and a Filename.
You should see an export you can recognise later in the list, and a file that arrives with a readable name.
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Set the file type
On the new export, set Output type to CSV.
You should see CSV chosen rather than XML.
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Set what it exports
On the new export, set Export type to orders.
You should see the order options, instead of the customer or coupon ones.
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Choose the field format
In Format, choose the predefined or custom format that carries your shipping fields.
You should see a format picked by name rather than inherited from a default.
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Set when it runs
In Trigger automated export, choose whether the export runs as orders are paid or on a set interval.
You should see a schedule, which WooCommerce reads in your site's timezone from Settings > General.
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Set where it goes
In Method, choose FTP, HTTP POST or email and enter the destination details.
You should see a transfer method saved, and a test you can now run against it.
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Turn it on and watch the first run
Set Enabled on, save the export, then check WooCommerce > Export > Export List after the first scheduled time.
You should see one completed export in the list, stored there for 14 days.
If it goes wrong
- The first file is missing your back catalogue
The documentation is blunt about it: "Orders placed / customers created before activating this plugin will not be automatically exported." They can be marked as exported instead. A scheduled export starts from the day it exists, so clear any backlog with a manual export.
- An order you shipped never appeared
Only items marked as not exported are included in automated exports, and exporting an order from the order list marks it exported. One manual download can therefore remove an order from that night's file. Use the Exported filter on the order list to see which is which.
- The schedule ran at the wrong hour
Exports are scheduled in your WordPress site's timezone, which is set under Settings > General and is often left on UTC. A 6am run on a UTC site is the small hours on the west coast. Fix the site timezone rather than the schedule.
- Nothing runs at all
Automated exports need background processing. Where the host blocks it, the export never starts and the Export List stays empty, with no error on the schedule itself. That is the first thing to check before rebuilding the export.
What happens next
A scheduled drop has 3 failure points a live connection does not: the schedule, the transfer, and the exported flag. It also has a fixed cadence, so a file written at 6am is already an hour stale by the time you pack at 7. Our poll reads Woo every 10 to 15 minutes with a 10 minute freshness floor per store, and there is no file to collect.
A connection instead of a file drop
With REST API keys pasted into I'd Ship That, Woo orders in the queue arrive on a scheduled poll and land in The Workbench, which is part of Pro. There is no FTP destination, no exported flag to reason about and nothing installed on your WordPress site.
When a label is bought we set the order to completed and write the tracking number and provider, plus a customer visible order note. The WooCommerce connection is in early access.
Related questions
Yes for orders, which can run as they are paid or on set intervals. Customer exports run on intervals only. Paid triggered exports are the closest the extension gets to a live feed, and each one is still a file that has to travel somewhere.
Exports are stored in the Export List for 14 days. Anything you need beyond that has to be collected and archived by you, at the destination rather than on the store.
No. Core WooCommerce has no order export at all, let alone a scheduled one, so the choice is the extension or reading orders over the REST API. Our guide on how often WooCommerce orders sync explains what a poll based connection does instead.
No. An export reads orders and, at most, flags them as exported. Moving an order to completed is a separate action, and our guide on processing versus completed covers what that status change means to the buyer.