Moving Off Clio Without Losing a File
Clio is clear that your firm's data is yours. Getting all of it out is still a job of many small exports, not one button. Here is where each piece lives, the order to run them in and what to check before you close the account.
Before you start
Whether you are switching systems or simply want a full copy of your records, the work is the same. Only an administrator on the account can run the bulk exports, so make sure the person doing this has that role.
Plan for an afternoon, not a few minutes. Clio exports one kind of record at a time, and documents come out separately from everything else. Keep the old system running until the new one is checked: you can export again if something is missing, which you cannot do once the account is gone.
Where each piece of your data lives
- Contacts, matters, notes, tasks, calendar, communications
- The Exports page, one CSV per type
- Time and expense entries
- The Exports page, or the Activities tab as CSV or PDF
- Bills
- Billing, Bills: filter, then Export at the bottom of the page, as CSV or PDF
- Outstanding balances
- Reports, Accounts receivable, with the output set to CSV
- Trust balances
- Reports: the trust management report and the trust ledger
- Bank and trust transactions
- Accounts, Export transactions, or a matter's Transactions tab
- Documents
- The Documents tab: tick the files or folders and download one .zip
1. Run the bulk exports
Clio's Exports page is at app.clio.com/export (ca.app.clio.com/export for Canadian accounts). Next to each type of data there is an "Excel ready CSV" link: calendar entries, communications, contact notes, contact related matters, contacts, expense entries, matter notes, matters, tasks and time entries. Download every one, even the ones you think are empty.
2. Export bills and balances
Bills are not on the Exports page. Go to Billing, then Bills, set the filters to cover every bill, and use the Export button at the bottom of the page, as CSV. For what each client still owes, run the Accounts receivable report under Reports with the output set to CSV.
Clio also offers a statement of account export. It shows bill amounts, payments and balances, but it covers only approved bills and leaves out trust deposits, so it is not a substitute for the full bill export.
3. Reconcile trust, then export it
Trust money needs the most care. Reconcile each trust account against your latest bank statement first; Clio says every transaction should be reconciled except one the bank has genuinely not cleared yet. Then run the trust management report, which Clio says to generate before exporting trust balances, and the trust ledger.
Run every report for the full date range. Clio warns that a limited range can make some reports disagree with what is in the system.
Bank and trust transactions export from Accounts, using Export transactions: choose the account, the date range and the format. You can also export a single matter's or contact's transactions from its Transactions tab.
4. Download the documents
On the Documents tab, a single file downloads in its original format and a folder downloads as a .zip. To take many at once, tick the files and folders and click the download icon; they come down together as one .zip. Older versions of a file download one at a time, so decide which past versions you need to keep.
5. Check that everything arrived
Before you close anything, count. How many contacts, matters, open bills and document files does Clio show, and how many are in your exports? Open each CSV and look at a few rows you know well. If you use custom fields, check that their values are there: we could not confirm from Clio's help center that they appear in the standard exports.
Save the whole folder in two places, such as your firm's cloud drive and an encrypted external drive. Your state bar sets how long client files must be kept.
6. Close the account, last
An administrator closes the account under Settings, Account and Payment Info, Close Account, then calls Clio support to verify. Clio's Terms of Service say the firm's data stays the firm's property, that you have 90 days after cancelling to retrieve it, and that it is deleted for good after that. The terms do not say exactly how retrieval works during those 90 days, so treat the exports you already checked as your real copy.
The checklist
- An administrator does the exports
- Every CSV from the Exports page, one per type
- Bills and the accounts receivable report
- The trust management report and the trust ledger, for the full date range
- Bank and trust transactions for every account
- Every document folder, downloaded as .zip
- Trust reconciled to the latest bank statement
- Counts checked: contacts, matters, bills and files, before and after
- Exports saved in two places
- Only then, the account closed
Steps taken from Clio's help center and Terms of Service as of October 18, 2026; menus can change, so check Clio's current help pages as you go. Clio is a trademark of its owner; we are not affiliated. This guide is not legal advice.