Answers.Body: <p>Although I still think the best solution is to have a new 'Edit' option for Duplicate Matching, <a href="https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/17177/clear-data-from-supplemental-address-on-update">Clear data from supplemental address on update</a> provides a sufficient workaround for now. The use of "null" in CSV imports should be documented carefully.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-02-24T15:27:04.733Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-02-24T15:27:04.733Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-04-13T12:53:13.017Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Hepper
Body: <p>I'm trying to do a bulk tidy-up of Address fields in CiviCRM 4.7 by exporting the data, manipulating it in a spreadsheet and re-importing it. This involves moving some values around between postal address fields, requiring some to be blanked. The Import option for Duplicate Matching can only be 'Update'. However, if I include a null value for any field it does not overwrite (blank out) an existing value, resulting in duplication. Only non-null values are considered to be updates.</p>
  
  <p>Example: trying to move "121b Baker Street" from 'Supplementary Address 1' to 'Street Address' using Import/Update results in <em>both</em> these fields containing "121b Baker Street".</p>
  
  <p>My problem is a more general case of the question at <a href="https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/17101/uploading-null-email-address?s=2|0.2152">Uploading null email address</a> which refers only to blanking of email addresses.</p>
  
  <p>Unless I'm missing something, I'd like to propose another option for Duplicate Matching (alongside the current Skip / Update / Fill / No duplicate checking) called '<strong>Edit</strong>'. It would allow the removal of existing values by overwriting with a null string but would otherwise behave in the same way as <strong>Update</strong>.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-02-23T19:53:10.907Z
Comments.Text: Hi David, I am a bit unclear, given your comment on http://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/17177/clear-data-from-supplemental-address-on-update. Does using the term NULL work or not?
Comments.UserDisplayName: petednz - fuzion
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-02-24T12:54:45.190Z
Comments.Text: Entering 'null' works for Text field types but not for picklist types such as State-Province. There may be others it doesn't work for.
Comments.UserDisplayName: David Hepper
Tags: <contacts><import>
Title: Is there an Import option to allow overwriting fields with null (empty)?
ThreadText: # Is there an Import option to allow overwriting fields with null (empty)?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-02-23)
  
  I'm trying to do a bulk tidy-up of Address fields in CiviCRM 4.7 by exporting the data, manipulating it in a spreadsheet and re-importing it. This involves moving some values around between postal address fields, requiring some to be blanked. The Import option for Duplicate Matching can only be 'Update'. However, if I include a null value for any field it does not overwrite (blank out) an existing value, resulting in duplication. Only non-null values are considered to be updates.
  
  Example: trying to move "121b Baker Street" from 'Supplementary Address 1' to 'Street Address' using Import/Update results in *both* these fields containing "121b Baker Street".
  
  My problem is a more general case of the question at [Uploading null email address](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/17101/uploading-null-email-address?s=2|0.2152) which refers only to blanking of email addresses.
  
  Unless I'm missing something, I'd like to propose another option for Duplicate Matching (alongside the current Skip / Update / Fill / No duplicate checking) called '**Edit**'. It would allow the removal of existing values by overwriting with a null string but would otherwise behave in the same way as **Update**.
  
  **Tags:** contacts, import
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Hi David, I am a bit unclear, given your comment on http://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/17177/clear-data-from-supplemental-address-on-update. Does using the term NULL work or not?  
  > **username_0**: Entering 'null' works for Text field types but not for picklist types such as State-Province. There may be others it doesn't work for.  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2017-02-24. Score: 1
  
  Although I still think the best solution is to have a new 'Edit' option for Duplicate Matching, [Clear data from supplemental address on update](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/17177/clear-data-from-supplemental-address-on-update) provides a sufficient workaround for now. The use of "null" in CSV imports should be documented carefully.
  
  
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