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Import Errors

Almost everything that can go wrong with an import is caught on the review screen, before a single record is written — which is the safest place to fix it. Work down to the symptom you are seeing.

The file was not recognized​

Symptom: you chose a file and OmniBurrow says it does not recognize the format, or asks you to map the columns yourself.

That is not a failure. OmniBurrow ships profiles for Evans Rabbit Register, Kintraks, and Everbreed; anything else falls through to the generic profile, where you map columns by hand and the import works exactly the same afterwards.

If you expected it to be recognized:

  • Check the headers were not renamed. Detection reads column names. Evans needs Ear_Num, Variety, DOB, and SireKey/DamKey; Kintraks needs Name plus at least two of CallName, Suffix, and Health.
  • Check the file type. .csv, .tsv, .txt, and Evans .xml are accepted. A .xlsx is not — save it as CSV first.
  • Check the size. Files over 10 MB are refused; export in parts.
  • One record type per file. A sheet with rabbits and weights stacked together imports as whichever matched first.

See Import from a spreadsheet for the manual route.

Columns did not map​

Symptom: the review screen shows blank fields, or something landed in the wrong place.

Go back and map the column yourself — the field list is on the CSV field reference, along with the header names that are recognized automatically.

Two things that look like data loss and are not:

  • Unmapped columns are kept, written into the record's notes as labelled lines. Nothing in your file is discarded.
  • A breed or variety that did not match the ARBA catalog is kept as free text or a custom variety, not dropped. The review screen counts these so you can fix them afterwards.

If a date came in wrong, it is almost always an ambiguous numeric date — 03/04 could be either order. OmniBurrow assumes US month/day and flags the row on the review screen so you can check it.

Duplicate rabbits appeared​

Symptom: the same animal is in your herd twice after an import.

The importer skips rows that match an existing rabbit on registration number, then ear tag, then name plus date of birth. A duplicate slipped through because none of those matched — usually a rabbit recorded with no ear tag, or with the tag written differently.

Fix it by merging, not deleting: merging keeps both records' history. See Maintenance Tools.

Avoiding it next time: herd first, pedigrees second

Import your herd CSV before your pedigree documents. Pedigree import links an extracted ancestor to a rabbit you already own only on an exact registration number or ear tag — so if the ancestors arrive first, the herd import has nothing to match against and you get two of everything.

Filling in ear tags before you import is the single best thing you can do for this.

Symptom: rabbits imported, but their sires and dams are empty.

Parents in a CSV are usually referenced by name, and the review screen reports how many links resolved, how many did not, and how many were ambiguous:

  • Unresolved — no rabbit of that name in the file or your herd. If the parent simply was not in the import, add it and set the link from the rabbit's record.
  • Ambiguous — more than one rabbit has that name. OmniBurrow leaves it empty rather than guessing. Ear tags are what disambiguate.

Evans exports are the exception: they reference parents by Evans record number, so links come across exactly.

Fixing a parent link afterwards fixes every pedigree below it at once — pedigrees are generated from the links, not stored.

A restore failed​

Symptom: restoring a backup reported a failure and nothing changed.

That is the safety net working. A restore counts the rows that actually landed in every table and compares them against the file. Any mismatch rolls the whole restore back, rather than leaving you half-restored. The result shows expected versus actual per table, which tells you where it went wrong.

Common causes:

  • The file is not an OmniBurrow export. Restore takes an export ZIP only — not another program's file. Use program import for those.
  • The archive was modified after export. Restore it as downloaded.
  • Your subscription has lapsed. Export keeps working when access ends; restore does not. See Plans, Trial & Billing.

Eight tables are deliberately skipped on restore — email and job history — and reported as skipped. That is expected, not a failure. See the export file reference.

Getting help​

If an import still will not work, email support@omniburrow.com with:

  • The first two or three rows of your file including the header row, with real names removed. The header row is usually enough to identify the problem.
  • Which profile it detected, if any, and the confidence it showed.
  • What the review screen said — the counts and any warnings.
  • Whether it failed before or after you pressed import.

Do not send your whole herd file unless asked; the headers are what matter.

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