Error - "Incoming Variable Library Is Invalid" while uploading a CSV data source file in Illustrator

[jlong1231]

Hey all!

I'm trying to make a bunch of business cards using a template en masse with a Excel document.

This contains Inuktitut characters that I would like to remain in the finished product. I've tried it with and without the Inuktitut, all the cells are filled and I've done a search for all empty cells to be sure. Each time, the result is the same: invalid library. What could be going wrong?

Here is what happened when I tried to investigate possible problems listed here: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/data-driven-graphics-templates-variables.html#Facingiss...

Your CSV file is not blank.
I've checked.

The spreadsheets that you've created using the latest version of Microsoft Excel are saved as CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) or CSV (MS-DOS) (*.csv) and those created using Apple Numbers are saved as CSV format with Unicode (UTF-8) encoding. Data source files saved in any other file format such as Macintosh Comma Separated (*.csv) are not supported for data merge.
Done. Both with comma delimited and MS-DOS.

All columns have a data field name. For example, Illustrator displays the error message when a column in your data source file contains data but doesn't have a data field name.
Done. All columns have a data field name.

The data source file doesn't have a blank column in between any filled columns. For example, Illustrator displays the error message when column B and D in your data source file contain data but column C is empty.
There are no blank columns. I've used find and replace to verify.

A. Data field name is missing for a column B. There's a blank column between filled columns
There are no blank field names.

The data field names in your spreadsheet don't contain any blank spaces.
There are no blank spaces.

The paths referring to image and graph files in your source file don't contain any blank spaces.
There are no blank spaces, image files or graphs.

The graph files linked from your data source file are saved as comma-delimited (.csv) files.
There is no graph.

{Renamed by MOD}

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your difficulties. If I get it correctly, you are getting this error The incoming variable library is invalid while uploading a CSV data source file. There could be multiple reasons behind why this would have happened. Few of them are listed in this help article (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/data-driven-graphics-templates-variables.html#Facingiss...). 

Let us know if this helps or if you have any further questions.

Regards,

Srishti

[jlong1231]

Thank you kindly for your advice. Here are the results of me having followed that link. Where do we go from here? Incidentally, using CSV with UTF-8 encoding did not preserve the special characters that are required for Inuktitut syllabics. 

Your CSV file is not blank.
I've checked.

The spreadsheets that you've created using the latest version of Microsoft Excel are saved as CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) or CSV (MS-DOS) (*.csv) and those created using Apple Numbers are saved as CSV format with Unicode (UTF-8) encoding. Data source files saved in any other file format such as Macintosh Comma Separated (*.csv) are not supported for data merge.
Done. Both with comma delimited and MS-DOS.

All columns have a data field name. For example, Illustrator displays the error message when a column in your data source file contains data but doesn't have a data field name.
Done. All columns have a data field name.

The data source file doesn't have a blank column in between any filled columns. For example, Illustrator displays the error message when column B and D in your data source file contain data but column C is empty.
There are no blank columns. I've used find and replace to verify.

A. Data field name is missing for a column B. There's a blank column between filled columns
There are no blank field names.

The data field names in your spreadsheet don't contain any blank spaces.
There are no blank spaces.

The paths referring to image and graph files in your source file don't contain any blank spaces.
There are no blank spaces, image files or graphs.

The graph files linked from your data source file are saved as comma-delimited (.csv) files.
There is no graph.

[AnthonyNeal]

I have the same exact problem as the original poster. My file also does not break any of the rules in the help article you posted. The software does not seem to be worknig as intended.

[Guest]

I have this exact problem as well.

[Astrid22862970mgg1]

I've done all of this and still invalid library error message. very frustrating.

[jlong1231]

Does anyone else have any theories?

[jlong1231]

Bump!

[Monika Gause]

If it doesn't work, can you try the VariableImporter script?

Illustrator is just very prissy about CSV ...

https://github.com/Silly-V/Adobe-Illustrator/blob/master/Variable%20Importer/VariableImporter.jsx

[José Cardoso e Silva]

You must replace the ; by , in the CSV file use a text editor for that and all should work after. 

[teamstyria]

This worked for me, thank you for the advice 🙂

[marcink67422639]

Great option. But doesn't it mean that we are not able to use texts with commas as values of the variables???

[IULIIA29183736uvyh]

This works for me too, thanks! Moreover, when I replace ; to , in MS Excel - it doesn't work. But when I replace ; to , inside the txt file - I've got it)

[Shorouq Abbadi]

I know this is a super late reply, but did you try removing special characters? The / and ?

[Natanael5FA6 · Accepted solution]

For me what solved was changing the first line from:

to:

The simple space was keeling the file, haha.

[Leng0D4E]

Yes! That solved my issue!! Thank you!

[Kasandra]

This solved it for me as well!

[claricet24244980]

THANK YOU!!!! (: That worked for me too!

[Zainab32086286i8uu]

Hi! How did you do this?

[Kasandra · Accepted solution]

You need to use a spreadsheet program like excel or google sheets to update the headers. The headers can't have spaces in them. So in the screenshot above the changed the header from "Variable 1" to "Variable1"

[Zainab32086286i8uu]

Amazing! It worked - thank you so much! 

[schroef]

Still not working when i do that. Indesign accepts the same file without any issue

EDIT

Found my issue, I initially started it in Excell, but i went nuts of that annoying dialog about "You sure you want save in this format" and getting stuck in that save dialog loop. So i moved to Visual Code Studio. But i added spaced in the headers so i could read them better, right after the comma. 

Indesign doesnt matter about, Illustrator is kinda strict. Why not sure Indesign Approach, they use Data-Merge way longer and it always works

[imt.mohd_farook]

Solved 

[ismoody · Accepted solution]

The data field names cannot start with a number

This was my issue.

So annoying, the help doesn't say this anywhere.

[Ernests26428220nev6]

Thank you! That solved my issue!