How to Turn Off Import Guessing

Learn how to turn off dataset auto-formatting when you don’t need it.

CARTO includes type and content guessing functionality during the import process.

Content Guessing

Content guessing means that the importer will automatically detect columns containing IP addresses, country names, or decimal degree coordinates in latitude/longitude columns. It generates geometry from these, populating the the_geom column so features appear in Map View.

Content guessing is enabled by default when you import a file via your CARTO dashboard. It is not enabled by default if you use the Import API.

Type Guessing

Type guessing detects whether dataset columns contain text, numeric, or boolean values, displaying them as string, number, and boolean types respectively.

The importer also recognizes dates in YYYY-MM-DD format or YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS/YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ timestamp formats, setting column type to date.

Type guessing is enabled by default for both CARTO dashboard and Import API imports.

Turn off Guessing for dashboard imports

For example, numeric postal codes lose leading zeroes when guessed as numbers, breaking geocoder recognition.

To disable guessing via CARTO dashboard: click New dataset, then uncheck the “Let CARTO automatically guess data types and content on import” box before connecting your file.

Note: CSV files with Well-Known-Binary values, shapefiles, geojsons, geopackage, and KML files with geometry will automatically generate geometry even with guessing disabled.

Turn off Guessing for Import API imports

Parameters for disabling import guessing are documented in the Import API guides for standard tables, sync tables, and database connectors.