Troubleshoot Migration Validation Errors

Applies to: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, Office 365 for enterprises, Live@edu

When you submit a CSV file to migrate the contents of mailboxes to the cloud, the migration service checks it for data validation errors. This process is called preliminary data validation. A data validation error results when data in the rows of the CSV file doesn't meet the property definition for the corresponding attribute in the header. For example, the migration service checks each row to verify there are no empty fields.

What happens when data validation errors are found?

The migration isn't terminated if errors are found, but e-mail won't be migrated for rows that contain validation errors. Rows with errors and the reason for the error are included in the MigrationErrors.csv file that is attached to the status e-mail message sent after the migration is complete.

You have two choices when data validation errors are found:

  • Restart the migration, fix the errors in the CSV file, and resubmit the CSV file.
  • Start the migration anyway, fix any errors after the migration batch is complete, and start a new migration batch to migrate e-mail for the mailboxes that failed.

Suggested solutions for data validation errors

The following table describes the preliminary data validation checks for each attribute in the CSV file and suggested solutions to fix problems.

Attribute (Column) Validation check Suggested solution

EmailAddress

  • It's formatted as a valid SMTP address.
  • The field isn't empty.
  • Make sure the address contains the at (@) sign, for example, student@contoso.edu.
  • Make sure this field isn't empty.

UserName

  • It doesn't contain leading or trailing spaces.
  • The field isn't empty.
  • Remove leading or trailing spaces.
  • Make sure this field isn't empty.

Password

The field isn't empty.

Make sure this field isn't empty.

Use the MigrationErrors.csv file to fix data validation errors

If you decide to continue with the migration even if you have validation errors, you can use the MigrationErrors.csv file to identify validation errors. Use information in the ErrorMessage column to resolve the problem that caused a row to fail. Then start a new migration batch and submit a new CSV file that contains the rows that have been fixed.