Your import has errors or skipped rows

This page helps you understand the import error report and fix common causes of row failures.

How to fix it

Get the error report

After an import completes with failures, select Download error report on the import summary page. The error report is a CSV file with one line per row that didn’t import:

The first line repeats your file’s own column headings, plus one more column, ImportError. If a failed row had more cells than your file has headings, the extra cells are kept too, under blank headings before ImportError.
Each failed row appears with its original values, in your file’s column order and in the same order as your file.
The ImportError column says, in plain English, why that row wasn’t imported. The reasons are listed below, word for word.
A cell that a spreadsheet would read as a formula (one starting with =, +, - or @) is written with a ' in front, so opening the report doesn’t run it.

The report is prepared shortly after the import finishes, however many rows failed, and it’s always a download — nothing is emailed. If you select Download error report before it’s ready, you’ll see “The error report isn’t ready for this import yet. It is prepared after the import finishes — check back in a minute.” If the whole import failed before any row was checked, there’s no report: nothing was imported, so fix the problem the progress screen’s Import failed message describes and run the import again. The report is kept for 29 days after the import; after that it can’t be downloaded. In rare cases the report can’t be saved at all — the import itself is not affected.

The reasons in the ImportError column

In the reasons below, '…' stands for the value from your row.

“Email ‘…’ is not a valid email address.” — The row’s email cell has something in it that isn’t an email address (for example, a member number in the email column, or an address missing the @). Fix the address, or clear the cell — a row with no email is imported as a member without one.

“This email address is already another member’s verified address, so the row was not imported.” — A different member in your organization has already verified this email address. Check whether the row is that same person (if so, you don’t need to import it again), or give the row a different address.

“Membership level ‘…’ does not exist in this organization — create it or map the value to an existing level; this row will be skipped on commit.” — The level name in this row doesn’t match a level in your organization. Create the level (go to Membership > Levels), or map the value to an existing level when you import again.

“Membership level ‘…’ matches more than one level (…) — this row will be skipped on commit.” — The level name matches several of your levels (they’re listed in the brackets). Map the value to the one you mean when you import again.

“Membership level ‘…’ is …, so no membership can be created on it — this row will be skipped on commit.” — The level isn’t open for new memberships — the reason names its state (for example, it is no longer present). Map the row to a level that is open, or reopen the level first.

“You can’t import memberships at level ‘…’ with your permissions — this row will be skipped on commit.” — Your admin role doesn’t cover this membership level. Ask an admin who manages that level to import these rows.

“Join date ‘…’ is not a recognised date — use YYYY-MM-DD, an ISO-8601 date-time, or M/D/YYYY, with a year from 1800 to 2200; this row will be skipped on commit.” (and the same reason for “Expiry date ‘…’”) — Rewrite the date in one of those formats.

“Join date ‘…’ is in the future — this row will be skipped on commit.” — Correct the join date to today or earlier.

“Expiry date ‘…’ is before the join date ‘…’ — this row will be skipped on commit.” — One of the two dates is wrong; correct whichever it is.

“Two columns were mapped to the same field, so nothing was imported. Upload the file again to start a new import, and map each column to a different field.” — Every row of the import carries this reason. Two of your columns were matched to the same member field. A failed import can’t be re-mapped: upload the file again as a new import and map each field once.

“This row could not be saved. Check its values and import it again.” — The row couldn’t be saved for a reason not listed above. Check its values against the other rows that imported — for example a value in the wrong format or a field left empty — and import it again.

The membership-level and date reasons are the same messages the import preview showed for those rows before you committed.

What to do after fixing errors

You can fix the rows directly in the error report and import it: any value that was written with a ' in front to stop it running as a formula is read back without the ', so the report re-imports cleanly. Delete the ImportError column first (or leave it unmapped), so it isn’t imported as data.

Fix the rows — in the error report, or in your source file based on the error report.
Save a file with only the fixed rows (the error report already holds only the rows that didn’t import).
Start a new import from Migration > New import and upload that file. Map the columns again (they are the same columns as your original file).

Importing the fixed rows again is safe: rows already imported are matched by email and not duplicated.

If the error report won’t download

“The error report isn’t ready for this import yet. It is prepared after the import finishes — check back in a minute.” — The import is still running, or the report is still being prepared. Wait a minute and try again.
“You don’t have permission to download this import’s error report.” — Your admin role doesn’t include viewing import errors. Ask an admin who has it.
“The error report couldn’t be reached right now. Try again in a few minutes.” — Something went wrong fetching the report. Try again in a few minutes.
“This import’s error report has expired — reports are kept for 29 days after the import.” — Reports are kept for 29 days after the import, and this one is older. Trying again won’t bring it back. To find the rows that didn’t import, compare your file with the member list, then import those rows again — rows already imported are matched by email and not duplicated.
“This import’s error report couldn’t be saved to storage, so it can’t be downloaded. The import itself is not affected. The rows that failed were not imported: fix them in your file and import it again — rows already imported are matched by email and not duplicated.” — MapleGather tried several times to save the report and couldn’t. The members that imported are unaffected, and trying the download again won’t help. Fix what you can in your file and import the whole file again: the rows that imported before are matched by email and not duplicated.

If that didn’t work

If the same rows keep failing, read their ImportError reasons again: each one names what to change in the row. If every row fails, check the column mapping — a wrong mapping (for example, a member number mapped to Email) makes every row fail the same way. If the whole import fails, the Import failed message on the progress screen says why (see Commit and monitor an import).