# \[mautic 2.3\] Contacts import via CSV and custom fields **URL:** \ **Category:** Product Support\ **Created:** [December 26, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/mautic-2-3-contacts-import-via-csv-and-custom-fields/6968 "2016-12-26T15:23:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![espresso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@espresso](https://forum.mautic.org/u/espresso)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/mautic-2-3-contacts-import-via-csv-and-custom-fields/6968/1 "2016-12-26T15:23:32Z")
Contacts import via CSV. I am trying to import a CSV containing only the below fields at this stage: firstname lastname email city statea zipcode system (custom field - type Select - Multiple) Order-Added-Date (Custom Field - Type Date) these are the errors I get for both customs fields I created. What’s the format to populate these fields in the DB? Select - Multiple: This value is not valid. Date: This value is not valid. thank you ---
**Author:** ![espresso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@espresso](https://forum.mautic.org/u/espresso)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/mautic-2-3-contacts-import-via-csv-and-custom-fields/6968/2 "2016-12-26T15:23:32Z")
Contacts import via CSV. I am trying to import a CSV containing only the below fields at this stage: firstname lastname email city statea zipcode system (custom field - type Select - Multiple) Order-Added-Date (Custom Field - Type Date) these are the errors I get for both customs fields I created. What’s the format to populate these fields in the DB? Select - Multiple: This value is not valid. Date: This value is not valid. thank you ---
**Author:** ![kerid0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc348/32.png) [@kerid0](https://forum.mautic.org/u/kerid0)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/mautic-2-3-contacts-import-via-csv-and-custom-fields/6968/3 "2017-01-13T00:45:55Z")
I faced a similar problem. In Official Documentation they suggest you use this format of dates > [@](#): > > In case of date/time values, use YYYY-mm-dd HH:ii:ss format i.e. 2017:01:02 19:08:00. Other formats may work too, but it may cause troubles. But I am still looking for Multiple Selects field solution. ---
**Author:** ![tralljf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9f8e36/32.png) [@tralljf](https://forum.mautic.org/u/tralljf)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/mautic-2-3-contacts-import-via-csv-and-custom-fields/6968/4 "2017-02-05T21:54:39Z")
I am having the same problem as custom fields, does anyone have a solution? ---
**Author:** ![Thierry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Thierry](https://forum.mautic.org/u/Thierry)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/mautic-2-3-contacts-import-via-csv-and-custom-fields/6968/5 "2017-06-29T11:06:20Z")
Who have find a solution for that? ---
**Author:** ![refero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@refero](https://forum.mautic.org/u/refero)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://forum.mautic.org/t/mautic-2-3-contacts-import-via-csv-and-custom-fields/6968/6 "2017-07-10T13:18:51Z")
This might be part of the solution. I struggled last days to upload my csv in Mautic. The problems I encountered led to the following solutions : 1. clean your csv from all not recognised characters, such as (but not limited to) é è ë ê à ä â ô ö î… but also ’ 2. beware of “hidden” characters such as spaces behind an email address 3. all values of your csv must be in the same format as the field in Mautic (text -\> text, date -\> date, etc.). Be especially caefull for custom fields 4. Custom fields with multiple values. The values are separated by a vertical bar |. Example: value1|value2|value 3. The order of the values has no importance. value1|value2 will work as good as value2|value1. Beware the values must match with the defined values of your custom field. Values are case sensitive. Finaly, I would advise to import limited number of contacts at the time, 2-300 per batch seems good. I tried up to 3700. The problem is that some errors (unrecognised characters…) lead the system to miss 30-60 records and make the system block. As a results, you don’t even know what went wrong. I hope this helps!