Sometimes imports aren't always fully successful. Luckily, you can diagnose what went wrong exactly, and take action.
Diagnosing a Failed File
In some very rare cases, a file can fail completely - in this case it'll be listed in Imports with a red exclamation icon.
If you do run into this issue, make sure to review the file you have. Is it maybe not a CSV file, is it too big, or otherwise corrupted? Walk through all of the requirements mentioned above to make sure you have a healthy file and try again. If the error persists, please create a Support Ticket.
Wrong CSV Delimiter - File successful, but all records failed to be imported?
When saving a CSV file using Microsoft Excel, Excel determines whether to use a comma (US localisation), or semicolon (other localisations - it will continue to call the file "Comma Separated Values" even if it's semicolon-separated).
When you upload your file, and all the fields and rows in the preview screen are marked in yellow "(not provided)", it's likely that your Import Configuration has a different CSV Delimiter configured.
To resolve this, navigate to Configurations in the top-right corner of the Imports screen, and then Edit the Import Configuration at hand. Change the CSV Delimiter based on your file - we recommend opening your CSV file using a text editor (Notepad on Windows, or TextEdit on Mac) to see what is used to separate the values in your file.
File not encoded in UTF-8
When doing a manual file upload, it could be that you can't progress to the preview screen. One of the reasons could be because you're confronted with the "The file uploaded must be encoded in UTF-8" error message. This is to the result of validation in order to ensure your data does not get corrupted (for example, the character ñ changing to ñ).
To resolve this...
... using Microsoft Excel on Windows:
- Save the CSV file using the first CSV option - CSV (gescheiden door scheidingstekens) (*.csv).
- Open the CSV file using Notepad and save the file, ensure that you select "UTF-8" or "UTF-8 with BOM" in the Encoding option.
... using a Microsoft Excel on a Mac:
- Save the CSV file using the first CSV option - CSV (gescheiden door scheidingstekens) (*.csv).
- Open the CSV file using TextEdit - Then go to TextEdit -> Preferences -> Open and Save and ensure that Encoding is set to "Unicode (UTF-8)" and save the file
File can not be parsed due to duplicate headers
When doing a manual file upload, it could be that you can't progress to the preview screen. One of the reasons could be because you're confronted with the "The CSV file could not be parsed because it contains duplicate headers (first row)" error message.
To resolve this, review your file, and ensure that each value on the first row (the header row) of your file has a unique value.
File can not be parsed due to duplicate headers (but there are no duplicate headers)
If you're using a Mac, it could be that you run into the issue where you can't get past the "The CSV file could not be parsed because it contains duplicate headers (first row)" error message. You've reviewed your file, and you're absolutely sure that you don't have any duplicate headers. In this rare case, it's likely you have a line break issue in your file; the CSV file has been saved with Macintosh line breaks (most applications don't use these anymore since 2012), whereas CustomerGauge expects Windows or UNIX line breaks.
To resolve this;
- With your CSV file opened in Excel, click "Save As...".
- From the drop-down list, select "Comma separated values (.csv)".
- Save your file and re-upload in CustomerGauge.
- If you get a UTF-8 error, your CSV file has been saved with a different file encoding than UTF-8. After following step 2, click "Save As..." again, but this time select "CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv)". Save and re-upload, and your file should be accepted!
Diagnosing Failed Records
It could be not all records in your file meets the import requirements. Drill-down on the number of Failed records to find out what's wrong with each record. Please note that each record could have multiple errors, which will be listed on their own rows.
You can press the "Download Errors" button to obtain a CSV file with all the records that failed to be imported. You can then make your amendments in your favourite file editor. Once you've amended your file, you can upload it using the same Import Configuration you used before.
Here are some common issues and how to resolve them:
The reference field is required.
The Account Name is required in Multi-Object and Accounts imports. If the error message mentions that the "reference" field is required, you're using an Imports configuration that does not have the Account Name mapped. Please make sure that your relevant Import Configuration has the Account Name field mapped.
The Contact Reference field is required.
This error message occurs in Surveys uploads when no Contact Reference field is found in your file. To remedy this, you can do the following:
- Ensure that your Import Configuration has the same File Heading for Contact Reference as your file.
The Contact Reference must be a valid contact.
This error message occurs in Surveys uploads when the Contact Reference value does not match the Email or SMS Telephone values of any Contact existing in CustomerGauge.
- Ensure that a Contact exists where either the Email, or the SMS Telephone value matches the value of Contact Reference in your file.
- Ensure that you've mapped the right File Heading with Contact Reference in your Import Configuration.
The Account Name must be a valid account.
This error message occurs when the Account Name value does not match any of the Accounts stored in CustomerGauge.
- Ensure that you've mapped the right File Heading with Account Name in your Import Configuration.
- Ensure that the an Account in CustomerGauge exists with the Account Name value provided in your file - or ensure that an Account Alias exists with the same value as the value provided in your file.
The selected Touchpoint is invalid.
This error message occurs in Surveys and Multi-Object uploads when the value of your Touchpoint field does not exist in CustomerGauge yet. To help guide the Account Experience program, System Administrators can manage Touchpoints in the System Admin.
- Reach out to your System Administrator to ensure your CustomerGauge system is equipped with all the Touchpoints your business needs.
The Order Date does not match the format Y-m-d H:i:s.
This error message occurs in Surveys and Multi-Object uploads when the provided Order Date is not in the correct format.
- Ensure that your Order Date is formatted like "2021-09-13 09:34:56" (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss)
The provided reference is an alias of another account
In Account Alias imports you can't add an alias that already belongs to another account. Head over to System Settings ➡ Manage Accounts to remove the alias that you're trying to add (work together with your if you don't have access to this).