Export data from Personio: a guide for switching

If you are leaving Personio for another HR system, you need your data as files: employee records, absences, documents and the material for payroll preparation. This guide shows where to find the exports in Personio and what to do with the files afterwards.

Before you start

The full company export is available only to the account holder or the contract manager with the admin role. For exports from the employee list, your user needs the permission for data export. Create a folder to collect all files and treat it as confidential: HR data is particularly sensitive under the Swiss Data Protection Act (nDSG).

Export before you cancel Personio. Access ends with the contract, but records relevant to the books, such as payslips, must be kept for ten years (Art. 958f of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO)).

Step by step: exporting from Personio

1. Start the full company export: open the settings, then in the section «Account & Support» the «Unternehmensstandardeinstellungen» (company default settings) and the tab «Datenexport». Choose «Neuen Datenexport erstellen».
2. Wait for the email and download: once the export is ready, you receive an email. The files stay available for 6 days. A new export is possible only every 6 days, so allow a spare day.
3. Check the contents: you get at least two ZIP files, one with all documents (a folder per person, by category) and one with the employee data as CSV, for example profile, salary, absences, attendance, performance, onboarding and history.
4. Also export the employee list: under «Unternehmen», open the «Personalliste», click the share symbol at the top right and choose «Exportieren». Set the file format, the filter («Aktuelle Ansicht» or «Alle Mitarbeitenden») and the columns.
5. Export selected people: tick the people you want in the list, open the three-dot symbol and choose «Exportieren». Then pick CSV or Excel and the attributes.
6. File everything away: save all files unchanged in the folder and note the export date.

Absences, documents and payroll

Leave and absences are part of the company export. Personio's help does not describe a separate absence export. Documents are also part of the company export. The bulk export in your own profile (tab «Dokumente», «Alle Dokumente exportieren»), however, covers only your own documents.

For payroll preparation, open «Lohnbuchhaltung», choose the company and the payroll group, and release the run. Under «Dokumente» you then find the Excel file «Lohnbuchhaltung_MM_JJJJ_Nummer.xlsx». Additional exports start with «Export erstellen». Personio does not usually calculate salaries itself; finished payslips are stored as documents in the profiles and are included in the document export. The help also mentions a public programming interface. You do not need it to move to KMU | base.

Practical example: Alpstein Bau AG

Alpstein Bau AG is a fictional construction firm with 40 employees. Management switches on 1 January. In early December the admin starts the company export and downloads the two ZIP files. The admin also exports the full employee list as Excel. The files go to KMU | base. In the trial run the company sees which people, absences and documents will be created, and approves only afterwards. Until the cut-over date the team keeps working in Personio.

Sources

• Personio help: «Unternehmensdaten exportieren», accessed on 9 November 2026: support.personio.de
• Personio help: «Daten aus der Personalliste exportieren», «Vorbereitende Lohnbuchhaltung» and «Dokumente exportieren», accessed on 9 November 2026: support.personio.de
• Swiss Code of Obligations (CO, SR 220), Art. 958f: fedlex.admin.ch (German original)

This guide describes the Personio menus according to the manufacturer's help; names may change. Menu names are given in their original German form. Information as at 9 November 2026.