1. Understanding Import and Export Management for Sales and Fusion Service
  2. Import Data with Special Characters

Import Data with Special Characters

You need to format the data, if your import file includes special characters. Follow the methods described in this topic to ensure that source data is properly parsed and imported by Sales and Fusion Service.

Build the CSV File

To build your CSV file for importing data:

  1. Click Tools > Import Management > Import Objects.

  2. On the Import Object Details page, click the Download icon to save the CSV template file for your object to your desktop.

  3. You can edit the file to include only those fields that you import. For more information on using the import object template, see the topic Use Import Object Templates to Import Data.

Enter Data in the CSV File

After creating the CSV file, you must enter the data to be imported. Some of the special characters are quotation marks(") and a comma(,). You must prefix the special characters with quotation marks(").This list shows the different formats in which the input data can be entered for the Lead object CSV file and how it's interpreted due to the presence of special characters. LeadName and LeadNumber are the header fields for the file.

This table lists five Lead records of a CSV file, each with the LeadName first, followed by the LeadNumber (120, 121, and so on).

LeadName

LeadNumber

Mark Twain lead

120

"Twain "secondary" lead"

121

Twain, Mark

122

Twain, Mark "Spring 2015" lead

123

"Twain "Fall 2014" lead

124

You can use escape characters for the Lead Name source data records, as shown in this table.

Row Number

Source Data for LeadName

How LeadName is Written to Database if no Escape Characters are Added

Data with Escape Characters to Preserve Original Data

How LeadName is Written to Database When Escape Characters are Included

Comment Regarding Escape Characters

1

Mark Twain lead

Mark Twain lead

Not applicable

Not applicable

No escape characters are needed as the source data contains no special characters.

2

"Twain "secondary" lead"

Twain secondary" lead"

"""Twain ""secondary"" lead""",121

"Twain "secondary" lead"

The two series of three quotation mark each:

  • The quotation marks surrounding the field which is required to precede the quotation marks in the source data

  • The quotation marks in the source data

3

Twain, Mark

Twain

"Twain, Mark",122

Twain, Mark

Double quotation mark is required to surround the field entry, as a comma is in the source data. No additional escape character is required to precede the comma.

4

Twain, Mark "Spring 2015" lead

Twain

"Twain, Mark ""Spring 2015"" lead",123

Twain, Mark "Spring 2015" lead

A double quotation mark is required to surround the field entry, as at least one special character is present in the source data. Every double quotation mark in the source data requires a double quotation mark escape character. No additional escape character is required to precede the comma.

5

"Twain "Fall 2014" lead

Twain Fall 2014" lead

"""Twain ""Fall 2014"" lead",124

"Twain "Fall 2014" lead

Although the missing end quotation mark in the source data is likely a typo, the source data must be written as it appears. Enter three double quotation marks at the beginning, but only a single (surrounding) double quotation mark at the end.

  • If the source data contains at least one special character, the field of source data must be entered in double quotation marks in the CSV file.

  • If the data for a field contains separator such as a comma (,), you must enclose the content within two double quotation marks.

  • If the first field has a special character at the beginning but not any matching special character at the end, the content of the second field will also be considered as part of the first field, and the second field is blank. You must provide a matching escape character.

  • If you don't precede the special characters by an escape character, the import process may write incorrect data for a field, or incorrectly write data to the subsequent fields.

When you import files with special characters, the special characters are converted into unreadable characters. You can resolve the issues by saving the import file in UTF-8 format.To save a file in UTF-8 format:

  • Choose File->Save as from the menu.

  • In the 'Save as type' drop down > select 'Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)'

  • Select 'Web Options' in the 'Tools'

  • Select the 'Encoding' tab.

  • In the 'Save this document as:' drop down, select 'Unicode (UTF-8)'"

  • Click Save

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