CSV Import 255 Summary Limit

Question

Greetings,

I am trying to upload a csv file with 28 columns. On the first row, each column is a category (ID, Milestone, etc.) Once in Map Field, all the column headers are converted in a single field which is then transformed into Summary; none of these columns are over the 255 character limit by themselves, but together they are, thus breaking the character limit for Summary.

I have managed to get the importation to work, but only by removing 18 columns out of the original 28. Is there any way to bypass that 255 character restriction other than cutting each field's real name to a non-descriptive name?

Thank you very much for your time.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

You still need to give the system something to put in the summary - it's the only completely mandatory field in the system.

Your data needs to go into a free-text custom field, the description or environment, as they're the only three types of field (without add-ons) that can accommodate your data.

I suspect the reason the shorter version is failing to go into summary is because it contains garbage too - the black diamond question mark characters are not valid.

Benjamin Masci · Answer

First, thank you for your answer. However, the mapping options do not offer me another choice that works: all other options lead to the 'next' button greyed out. Summary is the only one working. Is the modification to a free-text field to be done directly in Excel somehow? I am not seeing any options for that in the previous choices of the importer tool.

Mapping Selection.PNG

Of note is that even with the headers edited to abbreviations (not shown in previous pic), I am still getting the same error, despite the resulting string being less than 255 characters (149 characters according to Word with mapped values and the string in Summary copypasted in Word.)

Thank you very much for your time.

Mapping Selection.PNG

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

There is no "restriction" on this really.  You're just trying to wedge too much into the wrong field.  The field is limited to 255 characters, deliberately, as it's supposed to be a summary (meaning short description of what it is).

If you want to amass overlong strings into a field, that's fine, but they're not a summary.  Try mapping them into a free-text field.