error import and update

[carlosptf]

I believe I have found a bug in the data import and update process. Let’s consider a spreadsheet to be imported with the following fields: ID, Name, Phone, and Password. Imagine that, in some rows, the Phone field is not filled in. During the first import, the records with the Phone field left blank are imported correctly. However, when performing a new import, for example, to update the Password data, an issue arises. The CRM interprets the blank Phone fields as new records, duplicating the existing entries. In other words, if there is a blank field in the spreadsheet, that record will always be duplicated during the import.

[yuri]

The topic is moved out from bug reports. Reason: Missing explicit steps to reproduce (required in bug report rules).

[yuri]

Example CSV files with instructions what exactly to do would be helpful.

[carlosptf]

Hello!

I’m encountering an issue when trying to import and update data from a CSV file in a system. After following the standard procedures for importing, I’ve come across an unexpected behavior where records are being duplicated instead of being correctly updated.

Below, I’ve provided a detailed step-by-step of what was done, including specific observations on what went wrong. I hope someone can help me identify the cause of this duplication and how I can resolve it.

1. I imported a CSV file containing the following fields: ID, Nome, Razão Social, CNPJ, and Código.

2. I noticed that, in line 6 (ID 5), the Razão Social and CNPJ fields were empty.



3. The file was imported successfully without any errors.


4. When using the same CSV, without any changes, to create and update data, I observed that all lines were updated correctly, except for line 6 (ID 5). This line, due to the empty fields, was imported as a new record, resulting in a duplication.




5. When I updated the Código fields in the CSV and performed the import again, all records were duplicated instead of being updated. The expected behavior was that the existing records would be maintained and only the modified fields would be updated.

[victor]

Send all your files in a .zip archive for detailed analysis and testing.
It is also unclear which field you updated the records on during the second import in step 2.

[carlosptf]

The updated field was the “Código” in column E. As an example, I changed the value from 11111 to 11112 in line 02, ID 01.



This caused the record to be duplicated instead of updated.



Attached is the CSV.

[carlosptf]

"I made a video to explain it better."

[victor]

carlosptf,

Thank you for the video, after watching it everything became quite clear.

With Create & Update or Update in the second step of the import, you check absolutely all the fields. As a result, EspoCRM creates a new record for each line of the import file where there was an empty cell.
To prevent this from happening, it is worth updating only those fields that are identical in both versions of the import file at the second step of the import. For example, by the name field, or by the name + id fields.

[carlosptf]

Hello, thank you for your help so far.




I’m still facing difficulties and haven’t found a solution. I reset all the import records to try again, as I mentioned earlier, but still without success.




1. I performed the CSV import.

2. I checked if all records were imported correctly - OK.

3. I updated only one piece of information in the CSV, changing the “Matrícula” field from 1111 to 11112, intending for this update to be reflected in ESPO.

4. During the import, I selected the option to update only the “Matrícula” field, but instead of updating the existing record, the system continues to duplicate the record.




I recorded the screen again to show the problem.

[carlosptf]

I believe it worked!




I selected the “Atualizado por" option only for the ID field, and it seems to have worked. I’ll run more tests and report the results here.