[Applies to: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0]

Import limitations

Before you start importing data, we suggest that you consider the following:

• Date data, in unexpected formats, may import after conversion to a format consistent with your date format setting

  The Import Data Wizard authenticates the date data, in your source data, during the import. In cases where the date data is not in the format specified by your date-format setting, the Import Data Wizard displays an error. However, there are some cases in which date data is not in the expected format in the source data, but the Import Data Wizard converts the data to an expected format (without displaying an error) and imports the data.

  For example, if you import data for which the date format had been set as yyyy/mm/dd, a date like January 15, 2010 would be imported as 2010/01/15. The following table shows how Import Data Wizard would handle the inconsistent formats.

  Source data	Imported data	Comments
  1/15/10	Not imported	15 is not a valid month, so the Import Data Wizard displays an error.
  01/15/2010	2010/01/15	The Import Data Wizard interprets 2010 (where the system expects a day) as the year and so converts the entire date string based on the assumption that 2010 represents a year. Therefore, no error is displayed in this case, and data is imported after the Import Data Wizard converts the date data to a format consistent with your date format setting.

  If the Import Data Wizard displays errors or imports date/time data incorrectly, correct the inconsistencies in the source files and try importing the data again.

• Numeric data with very large values, or many digits after the decimal point, may be partially truncated during import

  Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online includes default limitations on the precision of very large numbers, and numbers with many digits after the decimal point. Importing data by using the Import Data Wizard with default precision settings can sometimes result in truncation of numeric data that falls outside the range of these settings.

  If you are importing numeric data to Decimal, Float, or Money fields used by record types in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, verify that your source data does not contain data that falls outside of the expected range. If your source data contains very large numeric values, or values with many decimal places, and truncation is not acceptable during import, you can customize the target fields through the Settings area of the Web application before starting the import.

  Similarly, if you choose to create custom fields during the import process, there are limitations on the precision supported by the Import Data Wizard, as shown in the following table.

  Field type	Maximum precision
  Decimal	10 digits past the decimal point
  Money	4 digits past the decimal point
  Float	5 digits past the decimal point

  Important

  Any data that exceeds these precision values will be truncated during import, and the Import Data Wizard will not display an error message.

  Even if the data falls withing the maximum precision values for these three data types, for very large numbers, there may still be cases in which truncation occurs. The following table includes examples of truncation during the import of very large numbers and numbers with many digits after the decimal place.

  Data type	Value in source file	Value after import	Comments
  Decimal	999,999.1234567891	999,999.1234567890	Even with a default precision of 10, data is truncated because of the large value.
  Decimal	99,999,999.1234567891	99,999,999.1234568000	Even with a default precision of 4, data is truncated because of the large value.
  Money	922,337,203,685,476.1234	922,337,203,685,476.0000
  Money	92,233,720,368,547.1234	92,233,720,368,547.1000
  Money	92,233,720,368,54.1234	9,223,372,036,854.1200
  Float	99,999,999,999.12345	99,999,999,999.12340	Even with a default precision of 5, data is truncated because of the large value.

• If creation of a new custom field fails during import, data in that field is not imported

  If you choose to create a custom field for any column in your source CSV file, but the Import Data Wizard fails to create the field during the import process, the data in the source column is not imported to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

• Some records are imported to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with a default status

  Some record types in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online include business logic for the transition from one status (state) value to another. Status (state) values in many record types are associated with specific status reason (status) values. Similarly, some records can only be associated with other records when each record has a specific status or status reason. This type of behavior varies greatly from one CRM system to another. Therefore, the Import Data Wizard partially supports setting the status (and corresponding status reason) for certain record types.

  By default, all records are created with their default status. Import Data Wizard then attempts to set the correct status for these records, based on the status of records in your source data, or the status of records related to the records you are importing. However, if this is not possible because of differences in business logic, an error occurs and the record remains with its default status.

  Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online includes special business logic for status and status-reason transitions for the following record types:

  • Quote
  • Order
  • Invoice
  • Article
  • Contract
  • Case
  • E-mail
  • Opportunity

  For all record types except Opportunity, Contract, and Article, import errors can cause records for these record types to be created with default statuses. However, a proper business logic is applied to the Opportunity, Contract, and Article record types provided that the data being imported meets the following criteria:

  • Contract:

    For contracts to be imported with a state other than Draft or Expired, contract lines must be associated with the contract records that are being imported. Although, the Import Data Wizard tries to import the contract record in the desired state, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online does not allow importing contract records in certain states based on the start and end date of the contracts. In places where there is a mismatch, contracts are created in the default state.

    For example, if you are importing contracts in the Invoiced state and,

    • If the start and end dates of the contracts are in the future, the contract is correctly imported in the Invoiced state.
    • If the start date of the contract is in the past and the end date is in future, the contract is imported in the Active state.
    • If the start and end dates of the contract are in the past, the contract is imported in the Expired state.

    Note

    Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online does not allow saving a contract for inactive accounts. Thus, if you try to import contracts that are associated with inactive accounts, the import fails.

  • Article:

    Importing articles is possible in all the following states: Draft, Unapproved, and Published. However, to import articles that are in the Published state, ArticleXML must be included in the data being imported.

• User data with inconsistent capitalization may not be imported correctly

  Make sure that the source data you import does not include user data with inconsistent capitalization. Similarly, if you are using a data map, make sure that the values specified in your data map are consistent with the capitalization in your source data.

• Importing stand-alone user data is not supported

  User data is necessary to determine ownership of the records that you are importing. Therefore, importing only user data without importing associated records is not supported. Always import user data with the other record types that the users own.

• Source data files must be smaller than 8 megabytes in case of individual files and 32 MB in case of .zip file

  Each source file that you import by using the Import Data Wizard must be less than 8 megabytes (MB) in size. If a source file is larger than 8 MB, split the data into multiple files that are smaller than 8 MB. Make sure to include the header row in each file before you begin the import process.

  If you are importing a .zip file containing individual source files, the total size of the .zip file, including the Attachment folder, must not exceed 32 MB.

• User accounts created during import are created with limited fields

  You can create users when you import records, but Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online creates users with only the following fields:

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Primary Email
  • E-mail2
  • Mobile Alert E-mail

  However, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online uses the following fields for user resolution (auto resolution):

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Primary Email
  • E-mail2
  • Mobile Alert E-mail
  • Primary attribute of User record type (Full Name)
• Import fails if data imported to certain fields exceeds the limit

  The Import Data Wizard, by default, customizes ntext and nvarchar fields to accommodate the source data. The limit for nvarchar and ntext fields is 4000 characters and 100,000 characters respectively, except for Address type fields as shown in the following table.

  Field	Limit
  Record type: Accounts
  Address 1: City	Maximum 50 characters
  Address 1: Street 1	Maximum 50 characters
  Address 1: Street2	Maximim 50 characters
  Record type: Leads
  Address 1: City	Maximum 50 characters
  Address 1: Street 1	Maximum 200 characters
  Address 1: Street2	Maximim 200 characters
  Record type: User
  Address 1: Name	Maximum 100 characters
  Address 1: Post Office Box	Maximum 20 characters
  Record type: Competitor
  Address 1: Street 1	Maximum 50 characters
  Address 1: Street 2	Maximum 50 characters
  Address 1: Street 3	Maximum 50 characters

  If you exceed the field-width limit, the data will not import.

• If records are imported into Product record type, the Default Price List field is not populated even if the source file has Default PriceList column

  To set a default price level for a product in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, the price list items associating the product and a price list must be created first. Only then can you set a price list as a default price list for the product. If you import a single products.csv, a new price list item that associates the default price list and the product cannot be automatically created. Thus, to set the Default Price Level for a product, you must import the files for products, price lists, and price list items in one single import session so that the Price List items and the Price List to be used with Product are created and the Product record type is imported with the Default Price List populated correctly.

• New fields for existing record types or the record types created during import are not added automatically to the record type form

  If you create new custom fields for an existing record type or for a new record type that is created during an import, the new fields are created and published and the imported data is imported into these fields. However, these fields are not added to the record type form automatically.

  If you want to see the data on the record type form, you must go to the Customizations area and add the fields created during the import to their respective record type forms after the import is complete.

• Notes may fail to import if any column in the source file is mapped to the FileName field of the Note record type

  If any column in your source file is mapped to the FileName field of the Note record type in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online when you import notes, the import can fail.

• Custom record types are created with certain default properties during import that cannot be changed after the record types are created

  The custom record types created during import are created with the following properties:

  • Ownership set to user-owned
  • Activities turned on
  • Notes turned on

  These fields cannot be changed after you create a custom record type. Thus, if you need certain record types to be created with properties different than this, we suggest that you create the record type manually in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

• Import fails if the source data contains more than 400 picklist values

  Using the Import Data Wizard, you can add new custom drop-down list (picklist) fields and also add new values to the existing drop-down lists. The Import Data Wizard automatically creates picklist values when a column in your source file is mapped to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online field of a picklist type and when the source data contains values that are not available in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The Import Data Wizard creates new picklist values for a custom picklist type field created during the import. However, the Import Data Wizard only adds a maximum of 400 picklist values. If your data contains more than 400 new picklist values, the import will fail.

  To handle this, you can either create picklist values in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in the Customizations area or you can use the Import Data Wizard more than once, specifying the 400 new picklist values in your source file in a single import instance.

• Import may fail if the record types being imported have cyclical dependencies and the lookup fields for these record types are not valid for update

  If you import data for two different record types (Account and Contact) and if these have cyclical dependencies, that is, accounts have lookups to contacts and contacts have lookups to accounts, usually the Import wizard does the following:

  • Creates records for the Account record type without lookups.
  • Creates records for the Contact record type without lookups.
  • Updates the records created for both record types with the lookup values pointing to the records created.

  However, if any of these record types have fields that are not valid for update, that is, if the values for these fields must be provided during record creation and cannot be updated later, these records may fail to import.

  If Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online cannot create records for the Contact record type, the records created for the Account record type remain in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online without lookups to contacts. Similarly, if Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online cannot create records for the Account record type, the records created for the Contact record type remain in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online without lookups to accounts.

• Import may fail if your source data is mapped to the Service field of Campaign Activity and Campaign Response record types

  In Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, both the Campaign Activity and Campaign Response record types include a Service (serviceid) field that does not appear by default on the forms for these two record types. The Service field is a reference (lookup) field. However, there are no valid record types that this field can reference.

  Therefore, if your source data includes data that you want to import to the Service field in either of these two record types, you will not be able to do so. Thus, we suggest that you do not map your source data to the Service field in the Campaign Activity or Campaign Response record types.

• The primary field (GUID) of the newly created record type cannot be mapped during the import

  If you want to create a new record type in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for one of your source files and if the file has some IDs (For example, GUIDs) as primary keys to uniquely identify each the data row, and if:

  • These IDs (or GUIDs) are used as references in other source files

    OR

  • You want to create records by reusing the same IDs (GUIDs) as primary keys in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

  Then, you must first manually create the record type with the desired name from the Customize Entities area in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and then import data in to this record type. This is required because when you create a new record type through the Import Data Wizard, there is no field in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fields drop-down list on the Map Fields page Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to which you can map your source data ID (GUID) field. However, if the record type is first created in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, a primary key field for the record type is listed in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fields drop-down list to which you can map your ID (GUID) column.

• Import of records may fail if the mandatory information for a record type is not specified

  For some record types, the mandatory fields are different for different types of record types. If you fail to provide the information for all the mandatory fields, the records may not import.

  For example, here are the first few rows of the Quote Product record type data import template:

  Quote	Select Product	Product	Product Description	Unit	Price Overridden	Price Per Unit	Quantity
  11	Existing	001		11	Use Default	1010101.11	1.00
  11	Write In		Description 002		Override Price	1010102.11	2.00
  11	Existing	002		11	Use Default	1010103.11	3.00
  11	Write In		Description 003		Override Price	1010104.11	4.00

  In the template, for the Quote Product record type, only the Quote and Quantity columns are marked as mandatory. However, due to some business logic, based on what you select in the Select Product column, the mandatory fields change for the Quote Product record type. For example, if you select Existing in the Select Product column, the Product and Unit columns become mandatory. Similarly, if you select Write In, the Product Description column becomes mandatory. If you do not fill in all mandatory information in the source files, the records will not be imported. In such cases, you may not get a specific error. Thus, to understand the exact error, try creating similar records through Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and identify the mandatory fields for the record type for which you need to specify data in the .csv file for importing records successfully in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.