Import errors
After Flexmail analyses your import file, it shows you a summary of what it found, including any rows it cannot import. This article explains each error type and what you can do to fix it.
For errors that cannot be resolved automatically, you can download an error file. This file contains one row per problematic contact with a column explaining what went wrong. Fix the issues in the file and re-import
Understanding the import summary
The summary shows:
- The number of unique valid contacts ready to import
- The number of existing contacts that will be updated
- Warnings: issues that do not block the import but are worth checking
- Errors: rows that cannot be imported
Error types
Blacklisted contact
The email address is on your blacklist. Blacklisted contacts cannot be imported back into your active database. This is intentional and protects your sender reputation and GDPR compliance. If you believe a contact was blacklisted by mistake and wants to be re-added, see the article "Resubscribing a blocked contact."
Invalid email address
The email address contains a formatting error: a missing @, an invalid domain, or illegal characters. Open the error file, correct the address, and re-import.
Field has an invalid value
A value in your file does not match the options available for a multiple choice field, or references an interest that does not exist in your account. Either update the values in your file to match your existing options, or create the missing field options or interests in Flexmail first, then re-import.
Invalid language
Your file contains a language value that does not match any of your selected communication languages or is not a valid ISO code. Correct the values in your file or remove the language column and use the fallback language option instead.
Invalid date for a field
A date value does not follow the required ISO-8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD). For example, 25/08/2025 is invalid; it should be 2025-08-25. Correct the dates in your file and re-import.
Required field missing
The row does not have an email address. Email address is the only required field. Contacts without one cannot be imported.
Duplicate contacts (warning)
The same email address appears more than once in your file. This is not a blocking error, but Flexmail will merge the rows. The import summary shows how many duplicates were found. See "Update existing contacts" for the exact merge logic.
Support tip Most import errors come from one of three things: a column mapped to the wrong field, date values in the wrong format, or interest names that do not exactly match what is in your account. Check those three things first when you see errors.
Next steps
Read "Link database fields with the import file" if errors seem related to field mapping
Read "About contact fields" to understand which data formats each field type accepts
Read "About languages" for the correct ISO language codes to use in your import file
Read "Resubscribing a blocked contact" if you need to re-add someone who appears as a blacklist error