Retrieve User Data - Vanilla Success
<main> <article class="userContent"> <p>You can retrieve user data in a few ways in your Vanilla community. The method you use depends on which data you want.</p><h2 data-id="request-a-user-profile-data-export">Request a user profile data export</h2><p>You can send an email message to Vanilla Support (<a href="unsafe:support@vanillaforums.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">support@vanillaforums.com</a>) and request that they pull an export of <strong>user profile data</strong> and send it to you.</p><p><strong>📝 NOTE</strong>: The export file type is <strong>.CSV</strong>.</p><p>The export file includes the following information for all users.</p><ul><li>Username</li><li>Email address</li><li>Registration date</li><li>Date of last login</li><li>Last IP address</li><li># of discussions</li><li># of comments</li><li># of points</li><li>Roles</li><li>Rank</li><li>Any Custom Profile Fields you have created in <strong>Settings > Membership > Profile Fields</strong></li></ul><h2 data-id="generate-a-json-file-of-user-data-and-activity">Generate a JSON file of user data and activity</h2><p>Personal data is stored on each user profile (<em>/profile</em>), and each user profile has a link to the user's posted discussions (<em>/profile/discussions</em>) and comments (<em>/profile/comments</em>).</p><p>You can append <strong>.json</strong> to the URL of these pages in order to access a file of the accessible data on that page, and then download the file and save it to your local device.</p><p><strong>📝 NOTE</strong>: <a href="https://www.w3schools.com/whatis/whatis_json.asp" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">JSON</a> is a language-independent data format.</p><h4 data-id="notes">Notes</h4><ul><li>Data access is governed by Roles and permissions.</li><li>You must be logged in as a trusted user with the appropriate Role in order to access users' <strong>personally identifiable information</strong> (<strong>PII</strong>).</li><li>The JSON file will expose only the data that you are authorized to access based on your Role.</li></ul><p>To retrieve the JSON file for a user requesting access to their data:</p><ol><li>Sign in as an authorized user.</li><li>Access the user's profile page (e.g., https://success.vanillaforums.com/<strong>profile/system</strong>).</li><li>Append the URL with <strong>.json</strong> (e.g., https://success.vanillaforums.com/profile/system<strong>.json</strong>) and press <strong>Enter</strong>.</li><li>Right-click the <strong>.json</strong> page and select <strong>Save as…</strong> to download and save the data file.</li></ol><p><strong>📝 NOTE</strong>: JSON files can be opened with <em>code/text editor applications</em>, such as Notepad and Code Writer.</p><p><strong></strong>✔️ <strong>TIP</strong>: You can use this same procedure on the discussions (<em>/profile/discussions</em><strong>.json</strong>) and comments (<em>/profile/comments</em><strong>.json</strong>) pages.</p><p><strong>🛑 IMPORTANT</strong>: If you share the data file, do so in <strong>a "secure" manner</strong> such as using a password-protected file or a trusted service (e.g., Google Drive or Dropbox). Also, be sure to <strong>delete the data file</strong> from your local device when you no longer need it.</p><h2 data-id="retrieve-user-data-via-vanilla's-api-v2">Retrieve user data via Vanilla's API v2</h2><p>The <strong>/users</strong> endpoint in Vanilla's API has multiple methods for getting users' data, discussions, and comments.</p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/UU2VBMF0X1A2/users-endpoint.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/UU2VBMF0X1A2/users-endpoint.png" alt="users endpoint.png" height="379" width="576" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <ul><li>To access the <em>complete list of methods for the /users endpoint</em>, see:</li></ul><div class="js-embed embedResponsive" data-embedjson="{"body":"This document is an up-to-date API reference for all of Vanilla's public APIv2 endpoints.","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6030677\/uploads\/VWGAXAF5OFCO\/microsoftteams-image.png","url":"https:\/\/success.vanillaforums.com\/kb\/articles\/202-apiv2-reference-endpoints#\/Users","embedType":"link","name":"API v2 Reference & Endpoints - Vanilla Success"}"> <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/202-apiv2-reference-endpoints#/Users" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc"> https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/202-apiv2-reference-endpoints#/Users </a> </div><ul><li>To see a list of the <em>improvements in API v2</em>, check out:</li></ul><div class="js-embed embedResponsive" data-embedjson="{"body":"Vanilla's API v2 has been rebuilt from the ground up to enable tighter integrations and lower-level access to all of Higher Logic Vanilla's (Vanilla) features using an API-first strategy. The initial release provides feature parity with our API v1. 📝 NOTE: New endpoints will be available as they are completed, so keep an…","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6030677\/uploads\/VWGAXAF5OFCO\/microsoftteams-image.png","url":"https:\/\/success.vanillaforums.com\/kb\/articles\/40","embedType":"link","name":"API v2 Overview - Vanilla Success"}"> <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/40" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc"> https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/40 </a> </div><p><br></p> </article> </main>