SharePoint 2010 Managed Metadata Import Error "Bulk load data conversion error (CustomSortOrder)"

What?

You receive the below error when you try to Export/Import Managed Metadata Service Application from one farm to another.

Import-SPMetadataWebServicePartitionData : Bulk load data conversion error (tru

ncation) for row 11, column 7 (CustomSortOrder).

One of the easiest ways to backup/restore Managed Metadata Service Application from one farm/environment to another is using import/export functionality.

I have explained this procedure a little while ago in this blog post

I have been successfully using the Import/Export method with no issues until I stumbled across this error today.

Why?

As the error hints, the error occurred due to specifying custom sort order in one of the term sets.

SharePoint 2010 - How to Backup/Restore Managed Metadata from one farm to another?

What?

SharePoint 2010 - How to Backup/Restore Managed Metadata from one farm/environment to another?

Why?

You will be amazed by the lack of proper import/export functionality.

It is quite a general requirement to migrate Managed Metadata Service / Termsets from one environment to the other.