# Trying to import .json object through designer GUI for Tag Import, receiving "Not a JSON Object"

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition81, vision\
**Created:** [April 3, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684 "2025-04-03T21:52:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sherman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sherman](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/sherman)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684/1 "2025-04-03T21:52:22Z")

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Tag Browser -\> Right click folder -\> Import -\> Direct

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/0/b/0b1660f7cbd754c9752d095554d315c51c32fb5c.png)

```python
Tag errors occurred during tag import 
Error_Exception("Error importing tags: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Not a JSON Object: 
[{"name":"BA20_v","tagType":"AtomicTag","valueSource":"reference","dataType":"Float4","extraInfo":"V","sourceTagPath":"[MBUS]up1/L1/FUS0-FUS127/FUS2","documentation":"24VDC Supply Voltage Monitor"}]") 

```

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/7/e/7e3be20bdf034423074953a2491887e7b5555b62.png)

I am 99% sure this is a valid JSON object, everything else that I have that loads JSON objects is happy with it. Is this a known issue or am I making a mistake of some kind?

Update: removing the outer bracket and handing only a dict worked, for a single object.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684/2 "2025-04-03T21:57:06Z")

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Unbalanced double quotes, at least.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sherman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sherman](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/sherman)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684/3 "2025-04-03T21:58:30Z")

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That trailing " is from the error printout

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684/4 "2025-04-03T23:10:39Z")

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> [@sherman](#):
>
> Update: removing the outer bracket and handing only a dict worked, for a single object.

I'm pretty sure you get an object with a structure like

```json
{ "tags": []
}

```

When you do a real export.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sherman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sherman](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/sherman)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 11:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684/5 "2025-04-03T23:13:30Z")

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Yep, that's it. Bad error message, it is a valid JSON but not a valid tag definition JSON. I recommend changing the error to say something like "Not a valid tag object" rather than "Not a valid JSON object". Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-import-json-object-through-designer-gui-for-tag-import-receiving-not-a-json-object/104684/6 "2025-04-03T23:30:46Z")

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It should be better, but what you provided is _not_ a valid JSON object - it was a JSON array.