---
title: "Troubleshooting"
manual: "External Import"
version: "main"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/cobweb/external_import:user-troubleshooting@main"
source: "User/Troubleshooting/Index.rst"
rendered: "2026-10-17T19:10:20+00:00"
---

# Troubleshooting {#user-troubleshooting}

This chapter tries to address a number of common issues.

## The automatic synchronization is not being executed {#user-backend-troubleshooting-not-executed}

You may observe that the scheduled synchronization is not taking place
at all. Even if the debug mode is activated and you look at the
logs, you will see no call to external_import. This may happen when
you set a too high frequency for synchronizations (like 1 minute for
example). If the previous synchronization has not finished, the
Scheduler will prevent the new one from taking place. The symptom is a
message like "\[scheduler\]: Event is already running and multiple
executions are not allowed, skipping! CRID: xyz, UID: nn" in the
system log (**SYSTEM > Log**). In this case you should stop the current
execution in the Scheduler backend module.

## The manual synchronization never ends {#user-backend-troubleshooting-neverending}

It may be that no results are reported during a manual synchronization
and that the looping arrows continue spinning endlessly. This happens
when something failed completely during the synchronization and the BE
module received no response. See the advice in [Debugging](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/cobweb/external_import:user-debugging@main).

## All the existing data was deleted {#user-backend-troubleshooting-all-deleted}

The most likely cause is that the external data could not be fetched,
resulting in zero items to import. If the delete operation is not
disabled, External import will take that as a sign that all existing
data should be deleted, since the external source didn't provide
anything.

There are various ways to protect yourself against that. Obviously you
can disable the delete operation, so that no record ever gets deleted.
If this is not desirable, you can use the "minimumRecords" option (see
[General TCA configuration](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/cobweb/external_import:administration-general-tca@main)) below.
For example, if you always expect at least 100 items to be imported,
set this option to 100. If fewer items than this are present in the
external data, the import process will be aborted and nothing will get deleted.

## Data on unrelated pages was deleted {#user-backend-troubleshooting-unrelated-deleted}

If all imported data should only be syncronized in a certain page, set the
[enforcePid](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/cobweb/external_import:administration-general-tca-properties-enforcepid@main) to `1`
to prevent the import from altering or deleting data on pages with a different page ID.

## Only a single entry was imported {#user-backend-troubleshooting-single-entry}

This generally happens when the [referenceUid](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/cobweb/external_import:administration-general-tca-properties-reference-uid@main)
property is wrongly defined. External Import is unable to differentiate the
records from the external source and each record overwrites the preceding one.
In the end, only the last one is actually imported.

## Can I leave out records with "empty" fields? {#user-backend-troubleshooting-empty-fields}

A likely scenario is wanting to leave out records where one field is empty.
There's no configuration property for that as it is a difficult topic.
First of all what constitutes an "empty field" will vary depending on
the incoming data and what handling is applied to it. What is more
one may want to filter the data at different points in the process
(e.g. after the data is read or after the data is transformed).

This is why there is no configuration property for "requiring" a field.
Such a need is better addressed by creating a [custom step](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/cobweb/external_import:developer-steps@main),
that can applied specific criteria and at a precise point in the
import process.