Import errors
After Flexmail analyses your import file, it shows 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 import it again.
Understanding the import summary
The summary shows:
- The number of unique valid contacts ready to import
- 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 returned to your active database. This is intentional and protects your sender reputation and GDPR compliance. If you believe a contact was added to the Blacklist by mistake and wants to be re-added, consult the article "Resubscribing a blocked contact."
Invalid email address
The email address contains a formatting error: a missing @ symbol, an invalid domain, or invalid characters. Open the error file, correct the address, and import again.
Field has an invalid value
A value in your file does not match the available options for a choice field, or refers to an interest that does not exist in your account. Adjust the values in your file so they match your existing options, or first create the missing field options or interests in Flexmail and then import again.
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 default 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 must be 2025-08-25. Correct the dates in your file and import again.
Required field missing
The row has no email address. The email address is the only required field. Contacts without an email address cannot be imported.
Invalid value for open tracking consent
The cell contains something other than "Yes", "No", or "Not set" (or empty). Flexmail rejects that row. The rest of the file is imported.
Value "Yes" for a contact with open tracking consent value "No"
The contact refused consent themselves. An import can never change that. The contact can change their choice on their profile page.
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 "Updating 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 match what is in your account exactly. Check those three things first when you see errors.
Next steps
- Read "Linking database fields to 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 want to re-add someone who appears as a Blacklist error