Salesforce import error

bad value for restricted picklist field

Salesforce is telling you that a value in your file is not one of the values this field is allowed to hold. Here is how to find every offending value and fix them all in one pass.

Last updated 14 July 2026 5 min read

INVALID_OR_NULL_FOR_RESTRICTED_PICKLIST:bad value for restricted picklist field: US:CountryCode --

The short answer: the field is a restricted picklist, so it only accepts values from its defined value set. Your file contains something else — usually an abbreviation (US instead of United States), a legacy label from another system, or a blank that arrives as text. Either translate the values in your file to the exact values the field accepts, or add the missing value to the field in Setup.

Find the values the field actually accepts

Before changing anything in your file, get the authoritative list. In Salesforce: Setup → Object Manager → your object → Fields & Relationships → the field named in the error → scroll to Values.

Two things on that screen decide whether you are even seeing the whole problem:

"Restrict picklist to the values defined in the value set" — if this is ticked, Salesforce refuses anything outside the list. That checkbox is why you got this error rather than a silently created value.
Active vs. inactive values — an inactive value still appears on existing records but cannot be written by an import. A value that "obviously exists" and still fails is very often an inactive one.

The four causes, in the order you should check them

1. The value simply is not in the list

The common case, and the boring one. Your source system says Prospect; Salesforce says Open - Not Contacted. Nothing is broken — the two systems just have different vocabularies, and something has to translate between them.

2. It is a State or Country picklist, and it wants the code

If your org has State and Country/Territory picklists enabled, the API fields are BillingCountryCode and BillingStateCode, and they take the ISO code, not the name and not your own abbreviation. US is valid. USA is not. United States is valid in the BillingCountry text field but not in the …CountryCode field. Loading the wrong one of the pair is one of the most common versions of this error.

3. The value exists, but not for that record type

Picklist values are assigned per record type. If the value is in the master value set but is not available on the record type you are loading into, the import is rejected with the same message — and the value is sitting right there in Setup, which makes this one genuinely maddening. Check Object Manager → Record Types → your record type → the field, and confirm the value is in the selected list.

4. Whitespace, casing, and multi-select separators

A trailing space ("Open ") makes a value a different string. Multi-select picklists expect selections joined by semicolons with no spaces — Email;Phone, not Email, Phone — and each selection is validated separately. Case alone is usually forgiven on insert, but whitespace never is.

Fix it: change the field, or change the file

Option A — add the value to Salesforce

Right when the value is genuinely legitimate and missing. Setup → the field → New under Values, then assign it to the relevant record types. Do not reach for the other lever on that page — unticking "restrict picklist" removes the guardrail for everyone, forever, so that a single import can pass. That is how orgs end up with Calfornia in production.

Option B — translate the values in your file

Usually the right fix, because your source system is not going to stop saying US. The mechanical version is a find-and-replace per value, or a VLOOKUP column that maps each source value to an accepted one, before you load:

US        → United States
U.S.A.    → United States
UK        → United Kingdom
Prospect  → Open - Not Contacted
Qualified → Working - Contacted

The trap is that you cannot see the full list of values you need to map without scanning the whole file. Fixing the three values in the error log, re-running, and discovering four more is the loop that turns a ten-minute import into an afternoon.

Get every bad value in one pass, before you load

Whatever tool you use, the goal is the same: list the distinct values your file uses for that column, compare that set against the field's accepted values, and translate the gaps — all before a single record is written.

This is what INQUA's import tool is built to do. When the target field comes from your org, it captures the field's accepted picklist values with it, so preview flags every violating cell before anything is written — not after Salesforce rejects the job. Its Map values editor then lists every distinct value in your source column next to a dropdown of the accepted values, so you fix the whole set in one screen. If the translations are obvious (US → United States), one click asks the AI to propose them and you approve or correct each one.

It works on a plain CSV or Excel file with no Salesforce connection at all, and it never deletes records — the direct load is an insert or an External-ID upsert, previewed and confirmed.

After the fix

Re-run the load and confirm the count. If you still see rejections, check that they are the same error: REQUIRED_FIELD_MISSING and type-conversion failures often surface only once the picklist problem stops masking them.

Frequently asked

What does 'bad value for restricted picklist field' mean?

The field is a restricted picklist, so Salesforce only accepts values from its defined value set. A value in your import is not in that set — commonly an abbreviation, a label from another system, a value that is inactive, or a value not enabled for the target record type.

Should I just untick 'restrict picklist to the values defined in the value set'?

Almost never. That removes the guardrail permanently for every user and every integration, so one import can pass. Add the missing value to the value set, or translate the values in your file instead.

Why does 'USA' fail when 'US' works?

If State and Country/Territory picklists are enabled, the CountryCode field takes the ISO code — US, GB, DE. 'USA' is not an ISO code and is rejected. The full name goes in the separate Country text field, not the CountryCode field.

The value exists in Setup, so why is it still rejected?

Two usual reasons: the value is inactive, or it is not assigned to the record type you are loading into. Both leave the value visible in the field's value set while making it unwritable for your import.

How do I load multi-select picklist values?

Join the selections with semicolons and no spaces — Email;Phone. Each selection is validated against the value set separately, so one bad selection rejects the whole record.

Can I find every bad value before running the import?

Yes, and you should. Compare the distinct values in your source column against the field's accepted values and translate the gaps first. INQUA does this automatically: it captures the accepted values from your org, flags every violating cell in preview, and its Map values editor translates the whole set in one screen.