Bulk Extension Import Failing

[Cajun McCartney]

We are testing out 3CX free license for our environment to see if it meets our needs and so far the only issue we have is that we can't do imports of extensions. Here's what I did:

1. Went to https://www.3cx.com/docs/bulk-extension-import/, followed the steps and grabbed the template
- Filled out the template with the information and received the attached error_1.txt
- Tried importing just the template file that was downloaded from 3CX without editing it and that failed.

Since that didn't work we tried the following

2. Deleted all extensions in the console > created a new fresh extension > Exported to csv
- We then edited that file, saved it without changing the formatting, Import failed with same error
- Tried again but this time saving as a CSV (DOS) and this failed with the same error as well.

Final test

3. Deleted all extensions, created a fresh one, exported the csv AND then without opening or touching the file at all, we deleted the extension from the console and immediately imported the untouched export and it failed with the errors in the attached error_2.txt

We have tried this on two different 3CX servers/environments and it never works. Tried multiple CSV and Excel formats, but the fact that it won't even accept the files it exports or the templates on the 3CX page tells me there is an issue.

Anyone else have this issue or know a work around? I saw some forums about having semicolons when it should have a comma and some stuff about opening it in a text editor and making sure the commas were there and nothing seems to be working.

 

[mariosM_3CX]

Hello @Cajun McCartney

Focusing on your 3rd test, as is the only one that we would certainly expect it to succeed, the error that you get indicates that the extension number already exists.
Is there a chance that the extension was not deleted properly, prior the import? Do you get any error when deleting the extension?

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Hi Marios,

We thought that could be an option so what we also tried was deleting the extension, restarted the server. ensured no extensions existed and the import failed again. Thought there also might be a number conflict somewhere so made sure that no extensions in the csv files were being used by conference lines, etc (even the template provided on the 3CX site), but still failed.

Thank you

 

[mariosM_3CX]

Can you attach the exported csv with one extension so i can try it. Remove any sensitive info or PM me if you prefer.

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Is there a way I can send you the file? For some reason when uploading the csv file here it say's it's not a valid file extension and the pm doesn't give me an option to attach a file.

 

[mariosM_3CX]

Just compress it in a zip file and attach

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Attached is the operator line I just created. Removed email address from it, but everything else is auto generated.

 

[mariosM_3CX]

For some reason, the extension number in your csv is 0(1 digit). How many digits are your extensions? And what is the version of your PBX?
Using the file you provided i get the same error, but if i edit and change the extension number to 000, it is importing successfully

 

[Cajun McCartney]

We're on version 15.5.0 Free License. We configured the the environment to use 4 digit extensions. Excel cells show it as 0, but if you open as .txt then it shows 0000. Same thing happened if I change it to 1234, it fails again.

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Just tested something else. I took the template that I can download directly from the 3CX support page, changed the 1 digit extension to 4 digits and tried importing it. I received the below error. Attached is the sheet.

Your import file has errors. Note that not all rows were imported.
Below is a list of row numbers that failed and in brackets you can see the column header that caused the failure.
Click here for more information on how to generate your CSV file correctly.

2 (MAC_0) ,
3 (MAC_0) ,
4 (MAC_0)

 

[mariosM_3CX]

Seems that the initial issue was that you were importing 3-digit extension in you PBX that is configured for 4-digit extensions.
Now the error message that you get, indicates that you are trying to import those extension using the same MAC address.
Try importing the attached csv

 

[Cajun McCartney]

No that's not the case. I built out a 3cx environment that used 3 digit extensions and then I found out we needed to be able to use 4 digit extensions so I created a new environment that uses 4 digit extensions.

When trying to import 4 digit extensions, it fails. I deleted all extensions, created a single new extension, exported to CSV, deleted the extension, restarted the server, and tried to import the exported extension WITHOUT touching the CSV file at all, and it still failed.

The last attachement/test was me taking the template from the 3CX support page, changing the 1 digit extensions to 4 digit extensions, tried importing and got the MAC errors. I then went into the CSV and removed all phone models, inferface, etc and just left the name and extension number and received the same errors that I was getting before.


Not correct: "Seems that the initial issue was that you were importing 3-digit extension in you PBX that is configured for 4-digit extensions."

 

[mariosM_3CX]

How about the csv that i attached? Is the import successful with that file?

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Just tested and it worked just fine, but what's weird is that it looks identical to the template I just redownloaded from the 3cx support page and it just failed again.

 

[mariosM_3CX]

That is weird, as the file i attached is indeed the one downloaded from the site. I just edited the extension numbers to match the 4-digit format.
Can you just download the file once again and attach it here? Don't even open the file.

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Yep here you go, I just downloaded another, but didn't touch it at all. After I send it to you, I'm going to try and import it as well.

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Let me know if that works for you, it failed for me. Tried downloading through Chrome, Firefox, Edge, but all fail import. Multiple different networks as well.

 

[Marari]

The issue that you're having is that when you are setting up the CSV (presumably in excel?) the fields are all formatted to accept number entry. When you have an extension like 0001, the number formatting will strip away the '000' and leave only the '1'.

This will, of course, create problems when you go to re-import the CSV file into 3CX because your 3CX is expecting 4-digit extensions (based on your config), and is receive single (or less) digit extensions because of the number formatting.

To correct the problem (in excel), highlight all cells (the 'button' between row 1 and column A) in the sheet, right-click anywhere on the highlighted cells, select "Format Cells", select "Text" from the list, and then click "OK".

Now you can populate your fields properly and any leading "0"s will not be stripped away.

 

[Cajun McCartney]

Hi Marari,

My list of extensions I am using range from 7000 to 8000, below are the list of extensions I'm trying to import. Changing the cell format to text doesn't resolve the issue.

7000
7100
7101
7102
7103
7104
7105
7106
7107
7108
7109
7110
7111
7112
7113
7114
7115
7116
7117
7201
7202
7203
8000
8001

 

[Marari]

Hi Marari,

My list of extensions I am using range from 7000 to 8000, below are the list of extensions I'm trying to import. Changing the cell format to text doesn't resolve the issue.

7000
7100
7101
7102
...
7201
7202
7203
8000
8001

Would you mind humoring me and trying? I just went through this with a client and switching to text formatting fixed the problem and I was able to import an entirely populated extension list (based on an initial export) without problem.