Common Manual Spreadsheet Import or sFTP Errors

If your company uses an sFTP import/sync to manage users, then you may be aware that errors can occur from time to time as the org changes and users turnover. We want our customers to be armed with the knowledge of how to move forward after receiving sFTP errors. To that end, we've compiled a list of the most common sFTP errors and their solutions, as well as general rules to keep in mind, and things to check.

💡 To access your sFTP spreadsheet from your company's Recognize Account, go to:

Company Admin > Documents > Uploads (to view the whole spreadsheet) Company Admin > Documents > Downloads*(to view errors only)*

General Rules to Keep in Mind:

1. Each account has a main identifier. If an Employee ID is present, that will be the main identifier, and the email address will be the secondary identifier. If there is no Employee ID present, the user’s email address will be the main Identifier.
2. Because an Employee ID serves as the main identifier for an account, when a new Employee ID is included in an import, our system thinks that a new account is being created. An exception to this is that we will first check to see if there is a matching account based upon the user's email address that doesn’t have an Employee ID present. In which case, we will update that employee record to have that Employee ID.
3. An Employee ID or email address can only exist once in a company's Recognize platform. Note: the same is true for phone numbers.
4. If an account already has an Employee ID present, it can not be updated in the sFTP spreadsheet upload until it has been cleared on our backend by our Engineering Team.

Flow Chart for User lookups

Things to Check:

1. Check to see if the email address already exists in Recognize with a different Employee ID.
2. Check to see if the Employee ID in the spreadsheet already exists on the platform next to a different email address.
3. Check the spelling/accuracy of the Email Address and Employee ID to ensure they match, and there isn’t a typo causing the issue.

Error Code Descriptions and Resolutions

Select the error code from the below list that you'd like to learn more about to jump to the relevant information.

• Email has already been taken. If this is you, you may reset your password <a href='https://recognizeapp.com/password_resets'>here.</a>
• Employee ID cannot be modified once set
• Mysql2::Error: Duplicate entry 'User@domain.com-domain2.com' for key 'index_users_on_unique_key’
• Start date invalid/birthday invalid
• Phone already taken
• Formatting issue
• Locale ‘example’ is not one of the supported locales
• Manager email not found

'Email has already been taken. If this is you, you may reset your password <a href='https://recognizeapp.com/password_resets'here.</a>'

Issue Reason: This error occurs when the Employee ID listed on the spreadsheet does not match the Employee ID that we have listed with the same email in Recognize. Employee IDs and Email Addresses can only exist once on a Company account. Because Employee ID’s are the main account identifier, when a new Employee ID is included in an import, the system thinks that a new account is being created, but because the email address already exists and is paired with a different Employee ID, we encounter an error.

Example: In the client’s sFTP spreadsheet, the Employee ID listed with the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com is CF456. However, The email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com is already present on the company’s account with the Employee ID AB123.

The Solution: The Employee ID needs to be cleared by Recognize Engineering so it can be updated in your next user sync.

Please contact Support@recognizeapp.com for help with this and include the following details:

1. Ask to please Merge Johnathen.Smith.2@Recognizeapp.com → John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com, specifying which profile to delete and which to keep active.
2. Confirm the correct Employee ID for the user

Note: The data in your spreadsheet must match the active account and correct Employee ID.

'Employee ID cannot be modified once set'

Issue Reason: This error appears when there is an attempt to add an Employee ID and an Email Address that were both found in our system, but not together. To elaborate, if an Employee ID and Email address are included in an import and those both already exist on two separate accounts, our system will assume that you are attempting to update the Employee ID.

Example: John Smith is listed in the import spreadsheet under the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com and the Employee ID AB123. In Recognize, there are two accounts that already exist for John: John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com is listed with the Employee ID CF456, and the Employee ID AB123 is listed next to John.Smith.2@Recognizeapp.com. Because both the Employee ID ‘AB123’ and Email Address ‘John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com’ both exist in Recognize but on two separate accounts, we get the error 'Employee ID can not be modified once set'.

The Solution: Because an Employee ID is the main identifier on a user’s profile, it cannot be updated via Spreadsheet Import until we first ask our Engineering Team to clear the old Employee ID. Then, the new Employee ID can be added to the user's profile in your next Spreadsheet Import (provided the email address did not also change, as that is the secondary identifier on an account). So in summary, the solution is to email Support@recognizeapp.com and request to clear the old Employee ID so that it can be replaced during the next user sync.

'Mysql2::Error: Duplicate entry 'User@domain.com-domain2.com' for key 'index_users_on_unique_key’'

Issue Reason: This error appears when an account was previously soft-deleted by our Engineering Team (usually during an account merge), and while no longer visible on the front end, that account still exists in our back end, and so cannot be updated via Spreadsheet Import until it has been archived.

Example: John Smith is listed in the import spreadsheet under the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com. Let's say our Engineering Team was instructed to merge John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com with Johnathan.Smith@Recognizeapp.com and leave the active account under Johnathan.Smith@Recognizeapp.com. Upon completing this request, they will have soft-deleted the email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com. When an import is attempted with the previously soft-deleted email address John.Smith@Recognizeapp.com attached to a new user, our system will see it as a duplicate entry and will return the above error.

The Solution: If you cannot find the duplicate email or employee ID in your company's Recognize account, it is likely that the account was previously soft deleted by Recognize Engineering, and while not visible in the company account, it still exists in the back end. Please reach out to Support@recognizeapp.com to confirm if this is the case. If the Recognize Engineering Team confirms that this account has been soft-deleted, you can then give our team permission to archive the email address so that it can be updated in your next sync.

Start date invalid/birthday invalid

Issue Reason: This error appears when a date isn't in the correct format.

Example: John Smith has a birthday of May 25, and in the user file, the birthday is listed as 25 May.

The Solution: 

• • Format date columns as strings and follow formats in sample spreadsheet
  • Date formats, such as birthday should only be in 05/25 format
  • Formatting must be consistent throughout the spreadsheet

Phone already taken

Issue Reason: The spreadsheet already contains a user with the same phone number.

Example: John Smith has a phone number of 555-5555, and Jane Doe is included in the user file with the same phone number of 555-5555.

The Solution:

Because phone number is a unique identifier, all phone numbers in the platform must be unique.

Formatting issue

Issue Reason: The spreadsheet contains data in an invalid format.

Example: John Smith is listed as 'Smith, John' in the spreadsheet.

The Solution: All formatting must follow our sample spreadsheet, with names not comma separated, and dates in string format.

Locale ‘example’ is not one of the supported locales

Issue Reason: The spreadsheet contains an unrecognized locale code in the 'Locale' column.

Example: John Smith has a locale of 'tx' in the user file.

The Solution:

'Locale' can ONLY be set as one of the following supported locales, and these locales are generally used to support languages in the platform:

'ar' or '(Arabic) العربية'

'en-AU' or 'Australian English'

'de' or 'Deutsch (German)'

'es' or 'Español (Spanish)'

'fr' or 'Français (French)'

'fr-CA' or 'French Canadian'

'en-GB' or 'Great Britain English'

'pt' or 'Português (Portuguese)'

'en' or 'United States English'

'mn' or 'ˈmɔ̙̃ɴɢɞ̜̆ɮ çe̝ɮ (Mongolian)'

'zh-CN' or '中国人 (Chinese Simplified)'

'zh-TW' or '中國人 (Chinese Taiwan)'

'ja' or '日本 (Japanese)'

Manager email not found

Issue Reason: If you're doing a "dry run" and the manager isn't already in the system, it'll return the manager error, even if the manager is in the upload you are currently dry-running. If you're not doing a dry run, and you get that manager error, it's because the manager isn't already in our system, and they're not in the current upload.