Marketing Cloud Engagement: Option Settings Guide for Data Extraction Activities

The following details outline the specifications and configuration rules for each option under the Data Extension Extract activity in Marketing Cloud Engagement.

Option Details and Configuration Rules

• Output Format

  • Specifies the character encoding of the extracted text file (such as CSV) from the Data Extension.

  • Simply selecting an encoding under this option does not apply the setting. To apply it, you must also check the Add_Selected_File_Encoding checkbox.

• Timezone

  • Specifies the timezone applied during data extraction.

  • Simply selecting a timezone under this option does not apply the setting. To apply it, you must also check the Convert_All_Dates_to_Selected_Timezone checkbox.

• Add_Selected_File_Encoding

  • Check this box to apply the character encoding selected in Output Format to the extracted file.

• Add_Timestamp_to_File_Name

  • Automatically appends the actual execution timestamp of the extraction to the end of the file name to ensure a unique name.

  • Important: As of July 16, 2026, this option is not yet available for use. If you need to append a timestamp to the file name, please use wildcards (e.g., %%Year%%%%Month%%%%Day%% -> 20260716) in the file name instead.

• Convert_All_Dates_to_Selected_Timezone

  • Check this box to convert date/time fields stored in the source Data Extension to the timezone selected in Timezone (applying the time shift) before writing them to the file.

• Create_Tar_Gz_Output_File

  • Compresses the extracted file into a Gzip archive format (e.g., sample.csv -> sample.tar.gz).

• Has Column Headers

  • Check this box to include column names (a header row) as the first line of the output file.

• Text Qualified

  • Check this box to enclose text values in double quotation marks (").

• Uses Line Feed

  • Check this box to use LF (Line Feed) as the line break code.

  • When disabled (unchecked), the line break code defaults to CRLF (Carriage Return + Line Feed).