I was populating a new term store with a multitude of new term sets that needed to be transferred across a few different environments so I decided to create some Import Files for consistency and to save some time.
First thought was to go to my favorite search engine to find the easiest way to do this. I found a handy Macro Enabled Template created by Wictor Wilén. An Excel Template opens, follow the format, click “Create Term Store File” and woolah an import file is created. Next, navigate to Central Admin and to the Managed Metadata Service, right click the Term Store that I’m importing to and select “Import Term Set.” I browse to my newly created file, click Upload and receive “Not all terms were imported successfully. Please see the server log for more information.”
After reviewing the ULS Logs I did not see which terms could possibly be causing the failure, so I decided to validate the format of my .csv file. TechNet provides an example file format that appeared exactly like mine, except I wasn’t using multiple levels. TechNet also suggested the sample import file available in Central Admin. Open the Managed Metadata Service, in the left navigation select “Managed Metadata Service” then under Sample Import there is a link to an example. This example has a Level 1 Term populated on the same row that the Term Set Name and the Term Set Description are defined.
I updated my import file to match this format and the error was gone! The examples below will result in the same hierarchy with all terms created as expected, but the incorrect format example will throw an error.
Food (Term Store)
Fruit (Term Set)
Apples
Oranges
Bananas
Incorrect Format
"Term Set Name","Term Set Description","LCID","Available for Tagging","Term Description","Level 1 Term","Level 2 Term","Level 3 Term","Level 4 Term","Level 5 Term","Level 6 Term","Level 7 Term"
"Fruit","Various fruits",,TRUE,,,,,,,,
,,,TRUE,”Delicious and crispy”,"Apples",,,,,,
,,,TRUE,”Fresh and juicy”,"Oranges",,,,,,
,,,TRUE,”Full of flavor”,"Bananas",,,,,,
Correct Format
"Term Set Name","Term Set Description","LCID","Available for Tagging","Term Description","Level 1 Term","Level 2 Term","Level 3 Term","Level 4 Term","Level 5 Term","Level 6 Term","Level 7 Term"
"Fruit","Various fruits",,TRUE,”Delicious and crispy”,”Apples”,,,,,,
,,,TRUE,”Fresh and juicy”,"Oranges",,,,,,
,,,TRUE,”Full of flavor”,"Bananas",,,,,,
I have the sudden urge for a banana…
Thank you for finding and sharing this information!