Please specify another value - Managed metadata

Symptoms

When attempting to copy an item, the ShareGate migration tool displays the following error:

Property 'My property': The value 'My value' is unavailable. Please specify another value.

Error code

• DA-077-109

Any error code ending with: -109

Details

In the context of this error, Property is a managed metadata column, and value is a managed metadata value for that column.

The error occurs because the source value is not a valid managed metadata value for this column at the destination.

A common cause of this is that the term from the source does not exist in the term set that the column is referencing at the destination.

Another frequent cause is when the term is set as not available for tagging.

Solution

You can use one of the following solutions to solve the error.

Note: With managed metadata migrations it is highly recommended to have term store administrator permissions to avoid some errors.

Create or migrate the missing term

Verify the term set associated with your managed metadata column

1. Open the destination list in SharePoint.
2. Go to the list settings.
3. Click on the affected column (property) in the Columns section.
4. Verify what term set the column is using in the Term Set Settings section.
5. Expand the term set to validate if the term is available for your column.

Create the missing term

1. In your SharePoint site, click on the gear icon  in the top right corner.
2. Select Site settings.
3. Click on Term store management in the Site Administration section.
   Note: You can also verify if you are term store administrator in the term store management screen.
4. Find the term set associated with your column.
5. Right-click on the term set or the term in which you need to add the missing term.
6. Select Create Term.
7. Type the name of the missing term exactly as it is at the source.
8. Migrate the items with the missing values again.

Migrate the missing term

1. Follow the steps from our Managed Metadata migration article to copy the missing term to the destination.
2. Migrate the items with the missing values again.

Set your destination term set to Open and allow fill in choices in your column

1. Go to the site that contains your destination list in SharePoint.
2. Click on the gear icon  in the top right corner.
3. Select Site settings.
4. Click on Term store management in the Site Administration section.
5. Find and select the term set associated with your column.
6. In the Submission Policy section, select Open.
7. Click on Save at the bottom of the page.
8. Go to your list in SharePoint.
9. Go to the list settings.
10. Click on the affected column (property) in the Columns section.
11. Set Allow 'Fill-in' choices to Yes.
12. Click Ok to exit the menu and save the setting.
13. Run your migration again.
14. SharePoint will automatically add the missing terms to your managed metadata column during the migration.

Note: After the migration is successful, you can go back to your column settings to set Allow 'Fill-in' choices to No, and you can go back to Term store management to set the Submission Policy for your term set to Closed.

Replace the missing value by a value that is available at the destination

1. In the Copy content screen, click on .
2. Select the Metadata tab.
3. Expand the Content type that contains the affected column.
4. Locate the affected column (property).
5. Select Set mapped value or default in the dropdown.
6. Click on the new field that appears at the right.
7. Select the term you wish to use by default when your source term is unavailable.
8. Click Confirm selection.
9. Click on the green checkmark in the top-right corner to save your settings and close the options panel.
10. Run your migration again.
11. Your items will keep the values that are available at the destination, and the items with unavailable values will get the default value you selected for that column.

Verify if the error is caused by a term not available for tagging at the destination

1. Go to the site that contains your destination list in SharePoint.
2. Click on the gear icon  in the top right corner.
3. Select Site settings.
4. Click on Term store management in the Site Administration section.
5. Find and expand the term set associated with your column.
6. Select the missing Term (value).
7. Verify if Available for Tagging is checked.
8. If it is not available for tagging, enable Available for Tagging with the checkbox in that section.
9. Click on Save.
10. Run your migration again.