What does the error "TermStoreErrorCodeEx: There is already a term with the same default label and parent term" mean?

Question

I've created a Sharepoint site and a document library within the Sharepoint site. I am adding metadata to the various documents in the library such as enterprise keywords to allow for more robust search capabilities. I have a stored list of keywords for each document as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, with each phrase separated by a semicolon. Sometimes when I copy these keywords into the column for a document, the keywords save correctly and without an error, other times, I will add keywords and get the error "TermStoreErrorCodeEx: There is already a term with the same default label and parent term" and the keywords will not save.

There seems to be absolutely no documentation with more information about what this error means and how to remedy it. I would love some guidance for this issue.

Answer 1

Dear Seth Legan,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft community. We are delighted to offer our assistance.

The error "TermStoreErrorCodeEx: There is already a term with the same default label and parent term" typically occurs when you are trying to add a term to a term set that already exists with the same name and parent term. This error can occur when you are trying to add metadata to a document in SharePoint and the term you are trying to add already exists in the term store.

You could try the following steps to resolve this issue:

1. Check the term store to see if the term you are trying to add already exists. If it does, you can either use the existing term or modify the term label to make it unique.
2. If the term does not exist in the term store, try adding it again. If the error persists, try creating a new term set and adding the term to the new term set.
3. If the issue persists, you can try resetting the metadata for the document library by going to Library Settings > Metadata navigation settings > Reset all metadata for this library.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, we are afraid that in order to address this issue, it may be necessary to investigate the environment on your end. As forum support, we do not have sufficient permissions and resources to perform an investigation directly. Therefore, we sincerely recommend that you contact your Microsoft 365 administrator and follow the steps outlined in this article to create a support ticket and contact Online Support.

The support team at Online Support has higher permissions than us and can remotely examine the situation on your end, gather more resources, and assist you with troubleshooting. This will be a more efficient way to address your concerns.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation! Have a great day.

Sincerely,

Sean | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Dear,

Good morning!

Thanks for posting in the Microsoft Community. We're happy to help. We're looking into your situation and will update you soon.

Appreciate their patience and understanding and thank them for their time and cooperation.

Sincerely

Waqas Muhammad