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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Import - A duplicate l...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Import - A duplicate lookup reference was found

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Posted on by Community Member Microsoft Employee

Hello everyone,

I'm transferring some data from an older system to our dynamics CRM, i'm using the CVS import functionality for this.

But, when importing I get the error "A duplicate lookup reference was found", which is quite clear. But, I need those duplicates for other technical reasons. 

Let me clarify my tables a bit.

I have three tables Project, Item and HourBooking. A project can have zero or more items and an hourBooking requires a reference to a project and one of it's items. All of the projects share the same basic item, lets call it "item 0". Currently there are about 50+ instances of this "item 0" in my system, all with a different ID.

So, I guess that's where the "A duplicate lookup reference was found" message comes from, because it doesn't know which instance of "item 0" i reference in my hour bookings.

I Hope i'm clear, but i can understand if you don't understand something about my question. Please let me know if I can clarify something :)

*This post is locked for comments

  • Wouter Madou Profile Picture
    Wouter Madou 3,392 on at
    RE: Import - A duplicate lookup reference was found

    No problem.

    Having a unique property per record, be it the name or another field is indeed the way to go if you use excel for import.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Import - A duplicate lookup reference was found

    Thanks for you reply Wouter, I guess the easiest way of fixing this problem is to give each item a unique name. They are temporary anyways, so it won't be a problem. 

  • Suggested answer
    Wouter Madou Profile Picture
    Wouter Madou 3,392 on at
    RE: Import - A duplicate lookup reference was found

    Hey,

    as you figured out, the system is given you that error because the name field has multiple hits when it tries to resolve it.

    Best you do is either export the 'item 0' and use a vlookup to fill in the GUIDS rather than the name field. On the import mapping, change it to ID instead of Name field.

    OR (will be easier in my opinion), add a counter field to your entity and use that value as lookup.

    (OR rename all your Item 0 records with something unique just for your import and when done, rename it by export/reimport)

    Gl!

    Gr.

    Wouter

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