[Ellen Harris]

I have a list in Excel of the annual donor report names for this year. Last year I imported the names into attributes and I'd like to import the current list and overwrite the attribute description from last time. I can't get the import to work that way - it either adds another attribute or if I mark it in configuration to only allow1 per record then it won't import it at all. The knowledgebase indicates that it's been filed for a suggestion... Does anyone have a work around for this?
thanks!

[DavidZ]

I am sure somebody will correct me if I am wrong but don't you need to supply the attribute import id too? You need to supply the constituent import id (or constituent id) in order to find the constituent but also the attribute import id in order to update the attribute. Make sure you set the import type to update existing records otherwise you will be trying to insert new attributes with import ids that are already in use. If you don't have the attribute import ids then you will need to export them and match them up to your Excel list.

What I have done previously with this sort of thing is to set my own attribute import ids so that they follow a known pattern. e.g. I combine the constituent id with my own prefix or suffix so that I can always rebuild the attribute import id without having it on my import file.

David

[Ellen Harris]

Thanks - that makes sense. I'll pull the attribute ID's and import that way.