What to export from your landlord software before you cancel
Before you cancel, export every tenant ledger, the rent roll, deposits held, the general ledger, vendor records with tax details, and every document attached to leases and work orders. Do it while your login still works, check that the files open, and save them with your tax records. If an export is missing, ask the company in writing before you cancel.
What should you export?
| Export | Why you need it |
|---|---|
| Rent roll as of the cutover date | Tenants, units, rent, lease dates |
| Tenant ledgers | Opening balances and payment history |
| Deposits held | A liability you must be able to return |
| General ledger and profit and loss by year | Your tax preparer will ask for them |
| Vendor list with tax details | Needed for 1099-NEC reporting |
| Leases, notices and work order files | Documents are usually separate from reports |
| Bank reconciliation reports | Proof that books matched the bank |
Pick the format you can use later: spreadsheet or CSV for tables, PDF for records you may need to show someone.
How do you find the export?
Most products keep data in reports, with an export button on each. The steps differ by product, so use the company's own help pages; our guides for AppFolio and Buildium list the reports to pull and where a company has documented the path.
- Search the help center for "export" and the report name.
- Run each report for the full date range, not the default month.
- Export, then open the file and check the totals against the screen.
- Save the files in a folder named with the product and the date.
What should you ask the company?
- How long is my data kept after I cancel, and can I still log in to export?
- Is there an export of everything, or only report by report?
- Are documents exportable in bulk?
- What do I lose if I downgrade instead of cancelling?
Put the questions in an email and save the answers. If the company does not answer, export everything you can before the plan ends.
How do you check an export is complete?
Example a made-up owner has 14 tenants. The exported rent roll should show 14 current tenants, the deposit export should add up to the deposits actually held, and the total of tenant balances should match the delinquency report on screen. If any count or total differs, the export is incomplete.
Keep exports for the period the IRS says records may be needed. Its page on how long to keep records gives the periods, which depend on your return.
What do owners forget to export?
Documents and history that live outside the reports. Signed leases, lease addenda, move-in condition photos, notices sent and work order attachments are usually stored as files, not as rows, and they are the first things lost when an account closes. Download them in bulk if the product allows it, or one lease at a time if it does not.
Also keep a copy of the vendor list with tax details. At year end you will need each vendor's total paid and a Form W-9 on file for any Form 1099-NEC, and your new system will not know about payments made in the old one unless you carry the totals over. Write the year-to-date total paid to each vendor next to its name before you cancel.
How DoorKeeping handles it
Switching in, you drop the exported rent roll or spreadsheet into the import, let it read the columns, and confirm the preview. Nothing posts until you confirm it.
DoorKeeping costs $2 per unit per month with every feature included, no setup cost and no minimum. You import a rent roll from a CSV or XLSX file, and each property gets its own books. Tenants pay your own bank directly, and anything involving money waits for your one-tap approval.
Sources
- IRS, How long should I keep records?, read Oct 30, 2026
Questions
- Can I cancel software and still get my data?
- Sometimes only for a short time. Export first, while your login works.
- What format should I export in?
- CSV or spreadsheet for tables, and PDF for records you may need to show.
- Do I need old documents?
- Yes. Leases, notices and work order files support your records, and they are often not in the reports.