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Why do I get the "Field timestamp: This field is required" import error?

Updated

Error message

During an event import, you may see:

Field timestamp: This field is required

Why does this happen?

This error appears when one or more rows in the import file do not contain a valid value in the required timestamp field. The column may exist, but some rows can still have an empty, malformed, or incorrectly mapped timestamp.

For event imports, each event must have a timestamp. The timestamp indicates when the event occurred.

Malformed rows

A timestamp can appear to be missing when another field contains an unescaped line break, comma, quotation mark, or other special character. These characters can break CSV parsing and shift values into the wrong columns. The importer may then read the row as having no timestamp, even when the source data contains one.

How do I fix it?

  1. Check the timestamp column

    • Check that the import file contains a timestamp column.

    • Make sure the timestamp column is mapped to the event timestamp in the import settings.

  2. Check the timestamp value

    • Make sure no row has an empty timestamp value.

    • Remove empty rows from the file.

    • Confirm that the timestamp is valid and uses a supported format.

  3. Check for malformed CSV rows

    • Make sure that each record remains on a single row.

    • Confirm that fields containing line breaks, commas, or quotation marks are enclosed and escaped according to the CSV format.

    • Check that the timestamp remains in the correct column after the file is parsed.

  4. Check the timestamp format

    • Supported timestamp formats include:

      • A datetime, for example 2020-08-05T10:22:00.

      • A numeric Unix timestamp, for example 1596615705.

    • If only a date is provided, for example 2026-09-17,  the platform interprets it as midnight: 2026-09-17T00:00:00.

  5. Correct the file, save it as a valid CSV, and run the import again.