Item Merge failure

SOLVED

Sage 100 2014

We merge items on a routine basis.

Something happened this time. We cut and pasted item codes into the [Change Tab] columns of the Delete Change Item Dialog from an Excel spreadsheet,

In this case, the new item code did not get created, but history showed up when running a report using the new item code.

Mystified, I ran a Rebuild Key Files, and the following results were on the log. The ANS-CAB series numbers are the ones we were merging.into new item codes.

CI_Item.M4T
Illegal characters have been found in the key. The record was not copied. The key read was ANS-CAB848FBAR
.
Illegal characters have been found in the key. The record was not copied. The key read was ANS-CAB848FFOG
.
Illegal characters have been found in the key. The record was not copied. The key read was ANS-CAB848FSAN
.
Illegal characters have been found in the key. The record was not copied. The key read was ANS-CAB848FSTO
.
Illegal characters have been found in the key. The record was not copied. The key read was CATALONIACAÑAMO14X14.
Illegal characters have been found in the key. The record was not copied. The key read was  PL6-BKBH.
Illegal characters have been found in the key. The record was not copied. The key read was ANS-CAB848FSHE
.
Record count changed, recovered 109193 out of 109200 records
Keys from the old file are being compared to the new file.
Key ANS-CAB848FBAR
has been removed.
Key ANS-CAB848FFOG
has been removed.
Key ANS-CAB848FSAN
has been removed.
Key ANS-CAB848FSHE
has been removed.
Key ANS-CAB848FSTO
has been removed.
Key CATALONIA CAÑAMO 14X14 has been removed.
An invalid key has been found. No record was copied or logged.
Key  PL6-BKBH has been removed.

What constitutes an illegal char?

When we went to look up one the new item codes, Sage asked if this was a new part. So we said yes on one part, now the item history for that part is longer visible.

I have complete backups, and want to rebuild the transactions so item history is correct for these parts.

Comments on any of this would be awesome.

Bret

Parents
  • +1
    verified answer

    Never copy / paste from Excel into Sage 100.  That will include an invisible character (which makes sense, because when you copy from Excel, that puts the cell value and cell formatting into the Windows clipboard).

    When renumbering I always, always, always save a CSV and use that to import to the Delete and Change screen (using the same column for Start and End to prevent a range being renumbered).  Even for renumbering one item.

  • 0 in reply to Kevin M

    Hey Kevin,

    Thanks as always for taking the time to comment.

    In testing, I had no problem cutting and pasting from Excel 2003. The error could be tied to the xml clutter in Office 2007-forward.

    So I'm going to try using office 2018 Excel and see if any issues surface.

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