# Export recipe can't handle "#" character in any fields

**URL:** <https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129>\
**Category:** Bug Report\
**Tags:** device-recipes\
**Created:** [July 20, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129 "2020-07-20T17:12:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Manning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Wesley\_Manning](https://forums.losant.com/u/Wesley_Manning)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129/1 "2020-07-20T17:12:07Z")

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(1) I use “Export Recipe” to export a recipe.  
(2) I click “Add Device Recipe” and load the device recipe I just exported above.  
It gives me a “Import failed - Invalid JSON” error.

Is this a bug?

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**Author:** ![JuliaKempf](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.losant.com/juliakempf/32/2446_2.png) [@JuliaKempf](https://forums.losant.com/u/JuliaKempf)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129/3 "2020-07-20T17:45:25Z")

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Hi @Wesley_Manning,

I’d like to look into this a bit further, could you possibly attach the recipe you have exported?

Thanks so much!  
Julia

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Manning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Wesley\_Manning](https://forums.losant.com/u/Wesley_Manning)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129/7 "2020-07-20T17:57:53Z")

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Actually seems like the export is the issue.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Wesley\_Manning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Wesley\_Manning](https://forums.losant.com/u/Wesley_Manning)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129/8 "2020-07-20T18:09:45Z")

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Export does like any “#” characters in any fields it appears. I removed “###############” from the “Name” field and “#name#” from one of the tag value fields we had and now it works fine.

We use “#” as a placeholder to tell us to change this on device creation.

Is that a bug or just a limitation on JSON? If can’t accept might be good to warn user.

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Manning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Wesley\_Manning](https://forums.losant.com/u/Wesley_Manning)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129/9 "2020-07-20T18:11:02Z")

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Once it gets to a “#” character export stops at that point. There is no warning. I found this out by opening the exported recipe in a text file.

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**Author:** ![JuliaKempf](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.losant.com/juliakempf/32/2446_2.png) [@JuliaKempf](https://forums.losant.com/u/JuliaKempf)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/export-recipe-cant-handle-character-in-any-fields/3129/10 "2020-07-20T19:15:53Z")

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Hi @Wesley_Manning,

Thank you for that information! Our engineering team has created a ticket and is working on a fix for this issue; I will follow up as soon as this is released.

Thanks so much for your patience,  
Julia