CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Hello,

I am using CiviCRM 3.1.4 and just imported several .csv files as Contacts.  I am currently trying to import additional information for all these records(/Contacts) as Participants under Events.

When trying to do so, all rows fail to import.  I have tried a couple things...

1) Under Upload Data, I select "Skip" for "Duplicate Entries".  
    Under Match Fields, I select "Contact ID (match to Contact)" for both First and Last Name fields.  (These names have already been imported as Contacts).
    Under Preview, everything looks fine, as if all rows are about to be imported successfully (43 Total rows / 43 Valid rows).
    Under Summary, 43 rows have been found to be invalid and were not imported.  The error "reason" listed under the downloadable error spreadsheet says "contact_id not valid" for each row.

2) Under Upload Data, I select "Update" for "Duplicate Entries".
    Under Match Fields, I select "Participant ID" for both First and Last Name fields.
    Under Preview, again, everything looks fine, as if all rows are about to be imported successfully (43 Total rows / 43 Valid rows).
    Under Summary, 43 rows have been found to be invalid and were not imported.  The error "reason" listed under the downloadable error spreadsheet says "Matching Participant record not found" for each row.

Any idea what I may be doing wrong?  I have searched around the forum, and am feeling that this may have something to do with assigning "Contact IDs" (specific identifiers for my imported contacts beyond just their first and last names), but only have a vague notion of what that is.  Any help is much appreciated, as this is rather frustrating!

Thanks,
jterry

    

Hi Kiran,

Many thanks for the quick response. 

I am currently logged into the demo site.  However, it is almost entirely in German language.  Not sure if there is a way to switch it to English.  If not, I can work around it, but I just was concerned in case the difference in field names would be more than just a direct translation.

Also, regarding the field mapping and sample data set... would you like me to provide them here on the board or just plug them into the demo import?

I have built a new test .csv spreadsheet and changed/encrypted the names, phone numbers, etc.

Thanks!!
John

can you also confirm what your Matching Rules are set to in Contacts > Find and Merge Duplicate Contacts

Not clear to me which problem we are trying to sort.

That csv imports fine other than obviously those without a 'company' being rejected.

I used the file to Import Contacts on Demo.

But unclear if you are having problems Importing Contacts or Importing Participants.

If you are wanting to Import Participants, then there needs to be the Event information in the import too.

If you are wanting to Import Contacts and then mark then as being Participants at an Event - then Import Contacts and either add to a Group or a Tag as you do the import (Step 3) - then use Find Contacts and then under Actions use Add to Event.

Not sure if that helps. screenshot of import mapping attached

okay so my confusion has been clarified. But the issue remains - you are supplying csv files that seem to import fine when tested but which are failing for you. my unfounded suspicion remains to be the csv file. Others have reported problems with csv from Excel. Even using NeoOffice I know that we have issues if we open a csv that has already been closed. So I always copy to the csv content (including from your attached) and create a spanking new csv and import it without re-opening it. any chance that is the problem for you

I don't know - i just know that Excel problems keep getting reported - eg this one - hhttp://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,13182.msg59083.html#msg59083 - so you could try the column of zeros trick.

So the Import works on the Strict Rules for Individuals - which you said earlier was to 'match on emails' - so for the records to match, you need the email. if you are importing a file that has only First and Last then you need to make a new Strict Rule eg First (weight=5) + Last (weight=5) = Total (10) - and set that rule to be your Default Strict Individual.

So I am getting confused here. I just looked back at your last mapping jpg - it shows you are trying to match First Name to Contact ID, rather than to First Name.
I tried the import on Demo and Import Participants does not offer First or Last to map to - in fact I don't see Contact ID either.
If that is how the system is meant to work - then you probably need to import these as Contacts, not Participants, add them to a new Group, then grab that Group and add them to the Event via Actions.
I haven't worked much with Events - maybe someone who does can chime in.