There are basically four problems that are commonly encountered with CSV files. These are:

• You get an Error in uploaded data error message after uploading the file.

• Your browser times out while you are uploading your CSV file.

• Your browser times out during the Add or Rebuild process after uploading your CSV file.

• You aren't getting the results you expected from the PATH statements you've used.

For details about each issue, see below.

Error in uploaded data

The error message "Error in uploaded data" almost always means that there is at least one record in the CSV file that has too many or too few fields compared to the fieldname record at the top of the CSV file.

The most common cause of this problem (wrong number of fields in a given record) is that you have forgotten commas at the end of lines where the last field is blank. The next most common cause of this problem is improper use (or non-use) of quotation marks.

Fields that contain commas, embedded linefeed or carriage return characters, or quotation marks must be surrounded entirely by a set of quotation marks.

Quotation marks embedded within a field must be doubled up.

Every record in the CSV file must have exactly the same number of fields as the first record where the fieldnames are defined. Empty fields still require commas -- it's the commas that occur outside of quotation marks before the first carriage return/linefeed outside of quotation marks that determines how many fields are present in any given record.

Browser times out during upload

If the browser times out during the upload of the CSV, then the CSV is too big. You need to break it up into multiple CSV files as best you can and try to upload smaller chunks.

Browser times out during Add/Rebuild

If the browser times out during the Add or Rebuild phase, it means the browser timed out, but the process is still running on the server side.

You should leave the editor for a while and log in again later.

How long you will need to wait to log in again depends on the time of day and how many items you had on deck in the editor to add or rebuild into the store.

For example, 14,000 items at 3:30 pm Pacific time could take a few hours to finish adding or rebuilding into the store.

On the other hand, 1,000 items at 1:00 am Pacific time shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes at most.

Unexpected results based on the PATH used for items

The standard syntax for using PATH is detailed in our "Supported fields for CSV files" help page. Problems with unexpected results when using PATH can be corrected by using a different syntax when adding items to already existing sections. If the standard syntax is used the editor will create multiple entries for the item and section.

When creating an item in an existing section use the section ID in the PATH field and the item will be created in the existing section.

When creating an item in a subsection use the format sectionID:sectionname where “sectionname” is the name of the subsection you in which you want to create the item. If the subsection name doesn’t exist yet it will be created.

When creating an item in a sub-subsection use sectionID:subsectionID:subsectionname to create the new item in a sub-subsection. If the sub-subsection name doesn’t exist yet it will be created.

Other notes about CSV files:

Please note that a single upload cannot include items and accessories. Accessories are items without pages of their own. You can't upload a single CSV that creates pages for some objects and not for other objects in that file.