Errors & Solutions

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Invalid date in column

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Hint

As regards to date formats, YYYY represents the four-digit year, MM is the two-digit month and DD is the two-digit day.

This error can pertain to any date column such as collection date or DATE_OF_COLLECTION depending on the type of manifest that you are trying to upload.

Two main reasons why this error occurs are:

#. Invalid date format: The date provided does not match a valid date format.

  • Depending on the column, valid date formats may include options such

  • as YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM, YYYY, NOT_COLLECTED or NOT_PROVIDED. The error message shown will display the valid options for the specific column.

  • A date-time value is provided but with a space separator (e.g.

  • 2025-05-01 14:30:00) instead of a a date-time format with a T separator (e.g. 2025-05-01T14:30:00).


  1. Valid date only value but time being added: A valid date is provided but the spreadsheet internally and automatically converts date only values to date-time values where the time component is set to 00:00:00.

    This time component is usually not visible in the cell. An example of this is 2025-05-01 00:00:00 but only 2025-05-01 is inputted and visible in the cell.

    Refer to the Solution option #2 below to resolve this issue.


    Example of invalid date format error message for collection date column

    Example of invalid date format error message for collection date column


    Example of invalid date format error message for DATE_OF_COLLECTION column

    Example of invalid date error message for DATE_OF_COLLECTION column

Solutions

Option 1: Re-format the date column in the spreadsheet

  1. Select the entire column with the date values to be corrected.

  2. Right-click then, select Format Cells…

  3. Select Custom

  4. In the Type field, enter yyyy-mm-dd

  5. Click OK

  6. Save the spreadsheet and reupload the file.

If the error persists, try the alternative solution below.

OR

Option 2: Convert date cell to text using a formula in a temporary column

  1. In a new column, enter =TEXT(A1,"yyyy-mm-dd") (replace A1 with the cell you want to convert).

  2. Copy the formula results.

  3. Use Paste Values or Paste Special –> Values to overwrite the original column with the formatted text.

  4. Delete the temporary column.

  5. Save the spreadsheet and reupload the file.

Invalid column ‘<column-name>’

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This error occurs when a column header in the uploaded manifest does not match any of the expected column headers for the selected checklist.

This error usually occurs when the incorrect checklist is selected or if there is a typo in the

Example of incorrect manifest uploaded error message

Example of incorrect manifest uploaded error message

Solutions

Verify that the correct checklist is selected from the dropdown menu then, re-upload a manifest that matches the selected checklist.

Alternatively, verify that the column header is spelt correctly and matches one of the expected column headers for the selected checklist. Refer to the Manifest Checklists section for guidance.