How to move data from a list to a data extension

Question

I need to create a automation that extracts and drops a entire list onto the FTP each day.

My issue is that the data lies within a list.

Is it possible to create a query that populates a data extension with the contents of a list?

If this isn't possible are there other options?

Thanks everyone

Answer 1

Tony is correct. Just to add to this, for Enterprise 2.0 accounts (which current editions fall under) you can access the _EnterpriseAttribute data view to return the custom profile attributes for the subscribers on the list:

Data View: EnterpriseAttribute

Sample usage would be along these lines:

SELECT
  l.SubscriberKey,
  l.Status,
  e.MyProfileAttribute1,
  e.MyProfileAttribute2
FROM
  _ListSubscribers l WITH (NOLOCK) INNER JOIN
  _EnterpriseAttribute e WITH (NOLOCK)
    ON  l.SubscriberID = e._SubscriberID
WHERE
  l.ListID = 123456

Answer 2

You can query a list, but only the default/out of the box fields, noted below:

Data View: ListSubscribers

Any additional/custom fields within a list would not be returned and/or your query would fail when referencing list field names that are not noted within the help documentation linked above.

In that case, the extract and import based automation you originally noted is the alternative. This documentation will help guide you to make the most appropriate selections for your data extract (tracking extract type) needs:

Using Tracking Extracts