Data source file format

Last update: 2024-02-05
  • Created for:
  • Admin

Data source files have the following properties:

  • The file is in .txt format.
  • Commented lines start with ‘#’, and are optional.
  • The first non-commented line contains the file’s headers.
  • The first value of every row is the date, which uses the format MM/DD/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY/HH/mm/SS.
  • Values on every row, including headers, are tab-delimited.
  • Every row must have at least one dimension and one metric.

Comments

Any row that starts with ‘#’ is a comment. When downloading a data source template file, the first two lines are comments.

  • The first comment indicates the type of template that you configured for the data source, the backend user ID that created the data source, and the data source ID.
  • The second comment provides friendly names for each of the headers included in the template file.

All comment rows are ignored by Adobe when the file is processed, so you can remove the template comments or add your own throughout the file. Only full rows can be commented; you cannot comment out individual fields or partial rows.

Headers

When uploading data source files, column headers are required. These column headers are not case-sensitive, but required spaces are necessary (For example, eVar1 is an invalid header, while EVAR 1 is valid). Column headers apply to all report suites. Use the following tables to make sure that each header in your data source file is set correctly.

TIP

You can make a data sources file from scratch if you include the correct headers in your data source file. There is no limit to the number of headers that you can include within a single file; however, each row can only have a maximum of 4096 bytes.

Dimension Data source header
Category Category
eVar1 - eVar250 Evar 1 - Evar 250
Marketing Channel Marketing Channel
Marketing Channel Detail Marketing Channel Detail
Product Product
Tracking Code Tracking Code
Transaction ID transactionID
Zip code Zip

Dimensions and metrics go into the same header row.

Metric Data source header
Cart Additions Cart Adds
Cart Removals Cart Removes
Cart Views Cart Views
Carts Cart Opens
Checkouts Checkouts
Custom Events Event 1 - Event 1000
Orders Orders
Revenue Price
Units Quantity

Adobe does not support data sources for any other dimensions or metrics. If variables beyond what are listed in the above tables are required, consider using the Bulk data insertion API instead.

Date

The first value in every row must be the date. Date format must be in one of the following formats:

  • MM/DD/YYYY/HH/mm/SS
  • MM/DD/YYYY

Omitting the hours/minutes/seconds automatically sets the timestamp to 12 PM for that day.

A single data source file supports up to 90 unique days. If you want to include more than 90 unique days in an upload, split your data into multiple files.

Dimension and metric data

Subsequent values after the date in each row contains the data that you want to upload. Every row corresponds with that respective timestamp. Make sure that the same number of tabs exist on every row. Columns can be in any order; make sure that the data in each row aligns with the headers at the top. The maximum amount of data a single row can have is 4096 bytes.

Dimension data cannot contain semicolons (;). Rows that contain semicolons are skipped.

Next steps

File upload: Learn the process to upload a data sources file for ingestion by Adobe.

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