How to resolve common import errors on Sage Accounting Start.
Resolution
To save you time setting up your service, you can import your contacts and chart of accounts.
To help you with this, we’ve created templates you can use. This is to ensure the information you’re importing is in the correct format.
However, there may be times when the import fails. If it fails, you’ll receive an error which tells you which cell in the CSV file you need to correct. Here are some of the most common errors.
TIP: If you’ve checked all the common errors listed and you’re still receiving errors, your import file could be corrupt. To correct this, copy and paste the contents of your import file into a new CSV template file. You can download this from the relevant import page.
If you receive this message, the reference in the cell indicated isn’t unique. This could be because you have duplicate references in the CSV file. Also, you may have a record with this reference already.
Enter a unique reference and try the import again.
The VAT number for that customer isn’t a valid number.
Enter a valid VAT number. When you enter the number, make sure you don’t enter the country code. For example, if you entered the VAT number as GB123456789, enter 123456789 omitting the GB at the start of the code.
You must also ensure that if the VAT number starts with 0, the CSV file doesn’t remove the leading zero. If it does remove the leading zero, right-click the relevant cell then click Format Cells. From the Category list select Text then click OK. You can now enter 0.
This value is the country’s two-digit country code, for example, GB for Great Britain and IE for Ireland.
Enter the correct two-digit country code. If you leave this column blank, the contact imports as an IE contact.
If you’ve specified a default nominal ledger in the CSV file, this account must already exist in your service.
To resolve this, either create the nominal ledger account or change the account in the CSV file to one that exists. For example, you may want to change this to the default sales nominal ledger account 4000.
If you choose to create a new nominal ledger account, you must select the visibility checkboxes for "Purchases - Invoice/Credit" and "Product/Supplier defaults" in the Chart of Accounts for a successful import.
The date must be in the format dd/mm/yyyy before you can import it.
Amend the date so it’s in the correct format. If Excel changes the date, right-click the relevant cell then click Format Cells. From the Category list select Text then click OK and enter the correct date.
Check the file you’re trying to import is the correct file for the relevant option. For example, if you’re importing products, make sure you choose the product CSV file.
Also, check the file is a CSV file and not an XLS file.
The size of your contact CSV file cannot exceed 0.5MB. Check the file size before attempting to import your contacts. If it is over the limit, you can split the contacts into two files and then import them separately. Contacts previously imported will stay in Sage after other imports.
If you get an error trying to import a contact CSV file, be sure that the data in the Reference column is unique (or blank) for each contact.
If you are reimporting a file, you'll need to change (or delete) the data in the Reference column. Do this for each contact to reimport the file.
If all the above is complete and you still get this error message, attempt to refresh your web page, and retry the import.
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