Import troubleshooting

Review the values in your source records:

• If the values exactly match valid values in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, you can use automatic mapping. If the values are different, use one of the following procedures:
  • Create a data map that maps each unique value in the source file to a valid Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online value.
  • Do a find-and-replace in your source file and then replace each value that isn't valid in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, with one that is. This avoids the need to do list-value mapping in the data map.
  • Customize the drop-down list attribute in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online by adding each unique value in your source file. This task requires privileges typically associated with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online System Customizer or System Administrator security role.
• Make sure the values used in your source file use consistent capitalization. For example, do not include values for the Rating attribute in leads as Warm and warm. If the source-file values differ just by case, importing records with either variant might fail.

You cannot do this using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. However, there is a tool available for download that lets you export and enrich data. Tool to Update MSCRM 4.0 Data Inline and Export to CSV for Re-import

No. Your source files can contain only Unicode text. However, the files cannot contain the ASCII control sequences (first 19 ASCII characters) such as:

• Null
• Line feed
• Carriage return

The most common cause of special characters is a source system that stores multiple lines of data in one attribute, and uses a line-feed or carriage-return character in the middle of the attribute. For example, your source system might store the entire address, including the street address and city in one line, using a line feed between the street address, and city, so that it appears correctly in the source application. When this data is exported to Microsoft Office Excel or to a comma-separated values (.csv) file, the line feed is included.

Control characters typically look like small rectangles when viewed in Notepad or Microsoft Office Word, and as a question mark in a box when viewed in Excel. They are hard to remove in Excel and Word, as you cannot search for them. To thoroughly check your files, you will need to use a tool such as a hex editor to search for, and remove, control codes in the output. Hex editors are available for free download from many Web sites. In the hex-editor output, look in the hexadecimal output for 0A (line feed), 0D (carriage return), and 00 (null), and remove them.

For a complete list of control codes, see ASCII Control Codes.

If your import job has not changed status in a reasonable time period, contact support:

• For Microsoft Dynamics CRM OnlineProfessional subscriptions, to open a service technical support request go to the Microsoft Support Web site: https://mbs.microsoft.com/support/createincident.aspx. You should receive a response within 24 hours between the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday. Please review your subscription agreement for further details.

For Microsoft Dynamics CRM OnlineProfessional-Plus subscriptions, you can also contact our Technical Support team at 1-877-CRM-CHOICE, and then press option 3.

For records that reference another record, such as a contact with a Parent Customer, when the record is imported, there are two steps. First the record is created, and then the reference data in the record is updated. Only when both steps succeed is the record marked to show up in the Success area. If the first step succeeds, but the second step fails, the record will show up as failing to import, even though it exists in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Yes. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, if the data in your source file has references to existing records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, the Import Data Wizard looks for the primary key and primary attribute name of the record type that is referenced in the source file and in the existing data in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. If the record is found, the lookup is resolved and the record is imported. If the record is not found, a "The lookup reference could not be resolved." error is shown. For more information, see How Relationship (lookup) Fields are Imported.

If your data map names contains characters other than English characters, it cannot be exported. There may be a hotfix available to fix this problem. To get this hotfix, you need to go to Microsoft Help and Support: Dynamics CRM 4.0 Solution Center.