Body: <p>For reasons too stupid to relate here, I am trying to Export my entire Contacts file from the operating, on-line Drupal/Civi setup as a CSV to my desktop -- no problem. When I try to Import this CSV file into a development version on my desktop, I am able to browse and specify the downloaded file in the Import screen (name shows up in the proper field), but when I hit "Continue" at the bottom of the screen, I get a pink error message saying "Import data file is a required field" and the file specification in that field has disappeared. Any idea why?
  Could it be that the Contact Name identifier is not the first field in the upload template (or the CSV, for that matter). Any help much appreciated as I try to recover from the aforementioned stupidity. </p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-08-11T16:31:56.580Z
Comments.Text: Does your import file have odd characters or spaces or extra dots or extra extensions?  I assume your default/files/civicrm/upload directory is writable.  You'd probably get different errors if it wasn't.  It doesn't care which field has which data.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Paul-Tahoe
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-08-11T20:49:05.250Z
Comments.Text: sometimes we find that an 'edited' csv is not acceptable and so we copy all cells out and paste in to a new csv to then import. may be worth trying.
Comments.UserDisplayName: petednz - fuzion
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-08-12T18:01:26.337Z
Comments.Text: Thank you both. Further messing around has shown that I can do the download from the website and then upload that same file onto another website (both on my ISP's server), although subject to the limitations on field names which are not the same on both sites. Where I get the problem is trying to upload to the development site on my desktop. I'll check the write privileges on my desktop. Thanks again.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Robf
Tags: <import>
Title: Problem importing CSV contacts
ThreadText: # Problem importing CSV contacts
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-11)
  
  For reasons too stupid to relate here, I am trying to Export my entire Contacts file from the operating, on-line Drupal/Civi setup as a CSV to my desktop -- no problem. When I try to Import this CSV file into a development version on my desktop, I am able to browse and specify the downloaded file in the Import screen (name shows up in the proper field), but when I hit "Continue" at the bottom of the screen, I get a pink error message saying "Import data file is a required field" and the file specification in that field has disappeared. Any idea why?
  Could it be that the Contact Name identifier is not the first field in the upload template (or the CSV, for that matter). Any help much appreciated as I try to recover from the aforementioned stupidity.
  
  **Tags:** import
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Does your import file have odd characters or spaces or extra dots or extra extensions?  I assume your default/files/civicrm/upload directory is writable.  You'd probably get different errors if it wasn't.  It doesn't care which field has which data.  
  > **username_2**: sometimes we find that an 'edited' csv is not acceptable and so we copy all cells out and paste in to a new csv to then import. may be worth trying.  
  > **username_0**: Thank you both. Further messing around has shown that I can do the download from the website and then upload that same file onto another website (both on my ISP's server), although subject to the limitations on field names which are not the same on both sites. Where I get the problem is trying to upload to the development site on my desktop. I'll check the write privileges on my desktop. Thanks again.  
  
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  ## 0 answers
  
  