When uploading an invite CSV into a location, Sign In Enterprise requires invite records to be entered in specific formats to be accepted. This article discusses how to interpret the error messages relating to the Could not upload invites due to validation errors pop-up.
If you are not already familiar with the CSV upload process, check out THIS article first.
If you are seeing an error stating CSV Seems to be malformed, check THIS article.
Before reading up on the specific error you may be encountering, take a look at the Prerequisites: Required Headers and Mandatory Fields section below to ensure you're not missing an initial basic step.
The errors discussed in the sections below include:
Add a first name on row *** or Add a last name on row ***
Prequisites: Required Headers and Mandatory Fields
Before diving into the individual errors, you need to make sure that the headers of your CSV match exactly to the headers listed below. Depending on your CSV software (eg. Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, etc.), this will either be inputted in row 1 of your spreadsheet or in a seperate section above.
NOTE: The row number indicated in a Sign In Enterprise error may not account for the headers at the top of your CSV. This is dependent on the software/app being used.
For example, if you are using Excel or Google Sheets, the headers at the top of the spreadsheet count as a row. So if the error in SIE indicates 'row 1', look for an error held in the email address in row 2 of your spreadsheet instead.
Header fields are case-sensitive (mandatory fields are in red):
first_name
last_name
email
company
hosts
mobile
start_date
end_date
start_time
end_time
Only first_name, last_name, email, start_date, and start_time are mandatory. However, if you wish to include the other fields, ensure that those headers match exactly as indicated.
In many circumstances, the Could not upload invites due to validation errors message will appear if one or more of your mandatory fields are missing.
Additionally, if a header is inputted incorrectly (eg. Using First Name instead of the default first_name header), you will receive an error which indicates every row of your CSV is invalid, as SIE does not recognize it as a valid data point.
We recommend downloading our CSV template directly from the SIE portal as the headers are pre-formatted for you. Also, if you need to add a mobile number to the template, ensure it is written as a header like this:
mobile
This error indicates there is an improperly formatted email under your ‘email’ column.
NOTE: The row number indicated in the error may not account for the headers at the top of your CSV. This is dependent on the software/app being used.
For example, if you are using Excel or Google Sheets, the headers at the top of the spreadsheet count as a row. So if the error in SIE indicates 'row 1', look for an error held in the email address in row 2 of your spreadsheet instead.
Common causes include:
Missing email address
Invalid email address format (eg. no @ symbol or no .com at the end)
Space after the email address
You may have accidentally typed a space that is not visible within the email address' cell. A quick fix is to highlight your entire email column and run a find & replace for any spaces.
Blank trailing rows
Your spreadsheet may have amended trailings rows to the end of your data set or there may be blank spaces within one of the cells in a blank row. Ensure these are removed before uploading.
Check that the host email addresses in row *** are correct because we couldn't find them.
If you are assigning hosts to your invitees, ensure that you are entering the host’s email address exactly as they are listed within your host list in Traction Guest. Common mistake surrounding this include:
Email address does not match with any existing host in SIE
Invalid email address format (eg. Host's name is entered instead of their email address)
Space after the email address
You may have accidentally typed a space that is not visible within the email address' cell. A quick fix is to highlight your entire email column and run a find & replace for any spaces.
Blank trailing rows
Your spreadsheet may have amended trailings rows to the end of your data set or there may be a space within one of the cells in a blank row. Ensure these are removed before uploading.
Common causes include:
No Start Date included.
Date Format in CSV does not match Date Format selected upon upload (selected from the dropdown list in the Upload Invites window.
Blank trailing rows
Your spreadsheet may have amended trailings rows to the end of your data set or there may be a space within one of the cells in a blank row. Ensure these are removed before uploading.
Note: Excel may automatically save columns with a specific date format. However, these date formats may not carry over when the spreadsheet is saved as a CSV. To solve for this, we recommended formatting your date columns in excel to ‘text’ rather than ‘date’. Then, manually type the date format to match an accepted format in Traction Guest (eg. 2021-06-21 to match YYYY-MM-DD).
This occurs if either a first name or last name is missing in a row. They are mandatory fields alongside email and start date.
Note: This error can also appear if your spreadsheet has amended trailings rows to the end of your data set or if there's a space within one of the cells in a blank row. Ensure these are removed before uploading.
