2075888 - Field contains too many characters, comments length cannot contain more than 4000 characters - Performance Management

• This KB article describes how to resolve the following character count error in PMv12:

Error - Required Fields are not filled or value is not valid.
Section: Review Context/Summary: field contains too many characters, comments length cannot be more than 4000 characters.

• Users are unable to save comments in PMv12 forms. When in MS Word, the attached feedback counts to less than 4000 characters including spaces; however in SuccessFactors, when copying and pasting the feedback into the comments, the user gets the attached error message, indicating it is over 4,000 characters:

Image/data in this KBA is from SAP internal systems, sample data, or demo systems. Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental

 

     

• SAP SuccessFactors Performance Management
• PM v11 or PM v12 

There are more than 4000 characters in a comment field.

• Because the SuccessFactors application is web-based, when cutting and pasting from a formatted Word document into a browser text editor, it's pasted as HTML.
• Although only text appears, in reality there are various hidden html tags that were also pasted in. 
• Additionally some language characters are double-byte.
• The 4000 characters count is a raw count which includes html tags used for formatting, as well as double-byte characters, so the real string length may be significantly shorter than 4000 characters.
• To resolve, if user must cut and paste from a Word doc, the best practice is to cut and paste to any text-only editor first. This will strip out any embedded tags save only the text.
• Then copy and paste from the text editor into the PM form comment box. This ensures only text is entered and nothing else.
• If text formatting is required, only use what is available in the comment editor to make the proper formatting.
• For PM v12 Acceleration forms refer to KB article 2372468 - How to Check if the Performance Form has 4000 Character Limit

In addition to these natural field limits, it is also possible to configure certain goal fields with a maxlength attribute, min-value and max-value. This can reduce how much text is entered into the field. Also, a validation can be added on forms for required fields that checks for how much text is in the field when moving from 1 step to the next, preventing the form from moving if it exceeds the desired length.

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