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Understanding Common Salesforce Errors

Article: 000050251
Updated: July 18, 2024

Learn how to find error logs and how to troubleshoot common errors within the Salesforce platform

You may come across errors while using the Salesforce platform. Review common issues you may have as well as frequently asked questions.


Article Contents

 
 
Users:
Administrators 
Company Managers  
Marketing Managers  
Sales Managers  
Salespersons  
Jr. Salespersons  


Salesforce Resources 

This article provides basic information on daily API limits. For more information, contact your Salesforce administrator. Additionally, refer to the following external Salesforce documentation:



Finding Error Logs

To find your Salesforce error log, known also as a debug log, you will need to download the log directly from Salesforce.

For information on downloading debug logs, refer to the following external Salesforce documentation:

For further assistance with Salesforce, contact Salesforce Support.
 



Common Salesforce Errors

Below are the most common SalesForce errors you may encounter with the Salesforce Sync enabled. We advise checking your error log on a regular basis. Reducing the amount of errors will speed up and reduce the amount API calls made to Salesforce.  
 

Error

 

Description

 

INVALID_FIELD_
FOR_INSERT_
UPDATE

 

You may encounter a Salesforce customer getting an INVALID_FIELD_FOR_INSERT_UPDATE: Attempting to update (as part of an upsert) parent field error when attempting to insert, update, or upsert records via the API using Dataloader, Informatica, Workbench, or other similar programs. This error can be resolved by un-assigning all of the parent fields you currently have mapped, and then selecting to retry the leads who are stuck in the error logs with this problem. If you still wish to have the parent fields afterwards, you can re-map them, but make sure to select Always use CRM as soon as you re-assign the field.

 

DUPLICATE_
EXTERNAL_ID

 

This error occurs if you have records with the same IDs coming from an external system. Unique fields are unique to a record and cannot be duplicated. This can happen when a lead or contact was imported with the wrong External CRM ID. To fix this, you will need to update the External ID with the correct External CRM ID from Salesforce via Import Tool. To obtain the correct 18-character External CRM ID, you will need to do a full export from Salesforce—not an activity report.

 

INVALID_ID_FIELD

 

This error occurs when a lead or contact record has an invalid External CRM ID. This can also occur when a Salesforce contact is imported as a lead record in Lead Gen & CRM, or vice versa.

 

FIELD_INTEGRITY_
EXCEPTION

 

Importing new or performing updates to existing records may result in data validation errors when state and country picklists are enabled if the address data contained in your file does not match the predefined state and country data. To resolve this, do the following:

   •   Set the default country to None in your state and country
        picklists setup section. 

   •   Map both standard State and Country fields together.

 

INVALID_CROSS_
REFERENCE_KEY

 The specified value in a relationship field is not valid, or data is not of the expected type. 

CANNOT_INSERT_
UPDATE_ACTIVATE_
ENTITY

 Salesforce has a timeout limit for transactions based on CPU usage. If transactions consume too much CPU time, they will be changed to a long-running transaction. 

MISSING_ARGUMENT

 

Salesforce requires the listed fields on the record. Ensure you have these fields mapped. Do not use Always use CRM value for these fields.

 

CANNOT_UPDATE_
CONVERTED_LEAD

 

When you convert a lead to a contact, account, or opportunity, it cannot be updated as it does not exist anymore.

 

FIELD_CUSTOM_
VALIDATION_
EXCEPTION

 

The error message FIELD_FILTER_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION, Value does not exist or does not match filter criteria occurs when there is a Look Up Field filter defined on an object that has been modified so that the update does not reflect the filter criteria. To fix this error, check to see if any filters are defined on the object, and make sure any modifications are adhering to the Filter Criteria.  

 

REQUIRED_FIELD_
MISSING

 

Salesforce requires the listed fields on the record. Ensure you have these fields mapped. Do not use Always use CRM value for these fields.

 

MALFORMED_ID

 

An import inserted invalid values in External CRM ID.

 

INVALID_OR_NULL_
FOR_RESTRICTED_
PICKLIST

 

Lead Gen & CRM tried to push a picklist value that Salesforce did not allow. If the attempted value is null and the field is a multi-select picklist, do the following:

   •   Uncheck the Restrict picklist to the values defined in
        the value
set checkbox for the field in Salesforce.

   •   Add a null value to the picklist in Salesforce. Screen
        reader support enabled.

 

INACTIVE_OWNER_
OR_USER

 

The affected record in Lead Gen & CRM has a lead owner who is inactive in Salesforce.

 

 

Checking Field Filter Criteria

To check if there are any filters on the object for a FIELD_CUSTOM_VALIDATION_EXCEPTION error, do the following:

  1. Log in to Salesforce.
  2. Click your name in the top-right corner of Salesforce.
  3. Select Setup in the drop-down menu that appears.
  4. Click Customize > Object > Fields.
  5. Scroll through your Standard and Custom Fields until you find a Lookup Field.
  6. Click the Field Label.
  7. Review the detail page to see if any filters exist.
  8. Review the Filter Criteria
  9. Ensure your modifications adhere to the criteria.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are best practices for importing leads and contacts?
A: When importing/updating new leads to Lead Gen & CRM via the import tool, adhere to the following:

  • Leads and contacts must be imported in separate .CSV files. When importing, under the Import New Leads In List As dropdown, select the correct lead type.
     
  • Ensure the correct External CRM ID is being used in conjunction with leads or contacts. To obtain the correct 18-character External CRM ID, you will need to perform a full export from SalesforceIn Salesforce, you can only do full exports manually once every 7 days for weekly exports, or 29 days for monthly exports. 

Q: Why am I seeing a discrepancy with the Date or Date/Time field?
A: Your Lead Gen & CRM company instance timezone is not set up to the same timezone as your synced Salesforce instance. When syncing, you will see the Salesforce time zone displayed next to the title of your Date or Date/Time field in Lead Gen & CRM.
 

Q: How does the Industry field work in each platform?
A: You will only be given one option from the drop-down list when mapping to the Salesforce Industry field. This is intended functionality so that the Salesforce Industry field can be mapped correctly to Lead Gen & CRM's Industry field. Salesforce uses a drop-down field, and Lead Gen & CRM uses a text entry field. Any text created in Lead Gen & CRM in the Lead Gen & CRM Industry field will be available in the Salesforce industry drop-down once the sync has taken place. The selected Salesforce Industry drop-down options will also sync over to the Lead Gen & CRM Industry field.
 

Q: What happens when I convert a lead to a contact within Lead Gen & CRM
A: If a Lead is synced between both systems and changed to a Contact within Lead Gen & CRM, a contact record will be created in Lead Gen & CRM the next time the sync runs. All the mapped field information in the record in Lead Gen & CRM will be synced to the new contact record in Salesforce. Since leads and contacts are categorized differently in Salesforce, the original Lead record in Salesforce will remain intact. If changes are made in Lead Gen & CRM to this record, then the changes will only sync to the contact record in Salesforce. If a change is made to the contact record in Salesforce, then it will update the record in Lead Gen & CRM.

Keep in mind both the Salesforce lead record and contact record are technically still connected with the contact record in Lead Gen & CRM. This means that if a change is detected in the existing lead record in Salesforce, it will sync all of its information back to the record in Lead Gen & CRM and change the Lead Gen & CRM lead status back to a lead. Changes in Lead Gen & CRM to the record from that point on would sync to the lead record in Salesforce. Converting your lead to a contact within Salesforce avoids duplicate records being created in Salesforce.

 


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