When creating fields in data extensions, you are offered a drop-down of data types that can be used for the field. The data extension data types and conditions are listed below:
Text
- Alphanumeric values, such as a first name, last name or a street address
- Field length can be up to 4,000 characters (or you can leave the field length blank for maximum characters)
- If editing the field length, you cannot decrease the length but can only increase.
- For example, let’s say you have a text field for State and originally created the length as 50 characters. Then you find out that you’re only using the abbreviation of the state (i.e. CA). You will not be able to decrease the length to 2 characters.
- Another example, let’s say you originally created the First Name field as a text field with length of 20. You find out that your data has First Name values longer than 20 characters. You will be able to increase the length.
- Do not use the Text field to store Email Address if you plan on sending on the email address field. Use the Email Address data type.
Number
- A whole number integer
- For numbers with decimals, use the Decimal data type
- Can accept numbers ranging from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,648
- Do not store phone numbers as a Number data type. Use the Phone data type
- For Zip Codes, consider using a Text data type if your data includes the characters or alphanumeric fields. For example, 90210-1234 or N5V 1B1
Date
- System Date
- All dates are stored in the 12-hour format of MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS, and if a date is entered in a different format, the system will convert it to the proper format when storing it
- Download a list of supported data formats
- AMPscript date and time functions like Format Date can be used on this value
- Values generated by SFMC are in Central Time Zone (servers do not changes with daylight savings)
Boolean
- True values
- 1
- Y
- Yes
- TRUE
- False values
- 0
- N
- No
- FALSE
Email Address
- An email address
- Default of 254 characters
- If using the data extension as a sendable data extension, you must have a field with this email address data type
- Upon import into a data extension, the system will reject records with an invalid email address syntax (i.e. missing @ symbol).
- The system does not check if the email address is sendable until you send using the data extension. Marketing Cloud uses List Detective to check this.
Phone
- A phone number
- Can accept 15 digits with or without hypens
- 555-555-5555
- 1-555-555-5555
- 1-(555)-555-5555
- (555)-555-5555
- Note this is separate from important contacts into Mobile Connect where you’ll have to use ISO-3306-1 alpha-2 standards when importing mobile numbers. This includes the local code and area code. See how to prepare your Mobile Import
Decimal
- A number with a decimal point
- For values with whole numbers only, use the Number data type
- Uses the length of (p, s) where p = precision and s = scale
- Precision is the total maximum number of digits in a number.
- Scale is the number of digits to the right of the decimal point in a number.
- For example, the number 123.45 has a precision of 5 and a scale of 2.
Locale
- An ISO language and country code
- Minimum of 2 characters and maximum of 5
- Valid Local Codes below:
- af-za
- am-et
- ar-ae
- ar-bh
- ar-dz
- ar-eg
- ar-iq
- ar-jo
- ar-kw
- ar-lb
- ar-ly
- ar-ma
- ar-om
- ar-qa
- ar-sa
- ar-sy
- ar-tn
- ar-ye
- as-in
- ba-ru
- be-by
- bg-bg
- bn-bd
- bn-in
- bo-cn
- br-fr
- ca-es
- co-fr
- cs-cz
- cy-gb
- da-dk
- de-at
- de-ch
- de-de
- de-li
- de-lu
- dv-mv
- el-gr
- en-au
- en-bz
- ca
- en-gb
- en-ie
- en-in
- en-jm
- en-my
- en-nz
- en-ph
- en-sg
- en-tt
- en-us
- en-za
- en-zw
- es-ar
- es-bo
- es-cl
- es-co
- es-cr
- es-do
- es-ec
- es-es
- es-gt
- es-hn
- es-mx
- es-ni
- es-pa
- es-pe
- es-pr
- es-py
- es-sv
- es-us
- es-uy
- es-ve
- et-ee
- eu-es
- fa-ir
- fi-fi
- fo-fo
- fr-be
- fr-ca
- fr-ch
- fr-fr
- fr-lu
- fr-mc
- fy-nl
- ga-ie
- gd-gb
- gl-es
- gu-in
- he-il
- hi-in
- hr-ba
- hr-hr
- hu-hu
- hy-am
- id-id
- ig-ng
- ii-cn
- is-is
- it-ch
- it-it
- ja-jp
- ka-ge
- kk-kz
- kl-gl
- km-kh
- kn-in
- ko-kr
- ky-kg
- lb-lu
- lo-la
- lt-lt
- lv-lv
- mi-nz
- mk-mk
- ml-in
- mn-mn
- mr-in
- ms-bn
- ms-my
- mt-mt
- nb-no
- ne-np
- nl-be
- nl-nl
- nn-no
- oc-fr
- or-in
- pa-in
- pl-pl
- ps-af
- pt-br
- pt-pt
- rm-ch
- ro-ro
- ru-ru
- rw-rw
- sa-in
- se-fi
- se-no
- se-se
- si-lk
- sk-sk
- sl-si
- sq-al
- sv-fi
- sv-se
- sw-ke
- ta-in
- te-in
- th-th
- tk-tm
- tn-za
- tr-tr
- tt-ru
- ug-cn
- uk-ua
- ur-pk
- vi-vn
- wo-sn
- xh-za
- yo-ng
- zh-cn
- zh-hk
- zh-mo
- zh-sg
- zh-tw
- zu-za
