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Resolve data validation errors that occur when you publish from Excel

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Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019

A data validation error occurs when a change in the work item list or project plan violates a work item type's rule. The following examples show common data validation errors:

  • Someone assigns a work item to a team member whose name isn't included in the list of allowed values

  • Someone creates a work item but forgets to complete a required field, such as the work item type.

    If a data validation error occurs when you try to publish changes, the Work Item Publishing Errors dialog box appears, and in the Unpublished work items list the Issue column shows Validation error or another phrase that contains Invalid.

Prerequisites

To update work items, you must be a member of the Contributors group or have your View work items in this node and your Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. For more information, see Change project-level permissions.

Resolve a data validation error

You can use the Work Item Publishing Errors dialog box to resolve a data validation error.

  1. In the Work Item Publishing Errors dialog box, for each work item that appears with a data validation error, follow these steps.

    Note

    If the data validation error is an invalid work item type, the Edit Work Item button is not visible, and a work item form does not appear. You must correct the error in the Office Excel worksheet or the Office Project plan. For information about how to resolve an error in Office Excel, see the next procedure in this article.

    1. In the Unpublished work items box, select the work item, and then select Edit Work Item.

      A work item form appears.

    2. In the work item form, review the information and correct the value.

    3. Select Close to save your changes and close the work item form.

  2. After you correct the data validation errors, select Publish to publish the corrected work items.

    Note

    This step publishes only the work items that you corrected. If you do not resolve a data validation error, that work item is not published.

  3. Select Close to close the Work Item Publishing Errors dialog box.

Resolve a data validation error by using error checking in Excel

You can use the Office Excel tools to find and resolve an error in a work item list. For more information about how to use Office Excel error checking tools, see the Office Excel Help.

To resolve a data validation error by using error checking in Excel 2007

  1. Start Excel, and select the Formulas tab.

  2. In the Formula Auditing group, select Error Checking.

    If the error checking tool finds an error, the Error Checking dialog box appears.

  3. For basic information about the error, see the text that describes the error in the Error Checking dialog box. For more information about the error, select Help on this error.

  4. In the work item list, select the cell that contains the error, and then correct the value.

  5. In the Error Checking dialog box, select Resume to find the next data validation error.

    • If the Error Checking dialog box shows another error, repeat the previous two steps to resolve the error.

    • If a message appears that indicates error checking has completed, select OK to close both this message and the Error Checking dialog box.