EIB Goal Load Fails With Invalid Rich Text Internal Syntax Error
The error Validation error occurred. Invalid Rich Text internal syntax: Unexpected char in markup at 203.
What it means
Workday's Rich Text fields, such as a Goal description, reject certain raw characters in the source text. The most common cause is a literal comparison symbol like >= sitting in the text, because the field parses the string as lightweight markup and an unescaped character breaks that parsing partway through.
Troubleshooting
- Isolate the failing row and note the character position the error reports, then inspect the source text around that exact position.
- Search that text for raw comparison operators (>=, <=, >, <) or stray ampersands, which are the most common triggers for this specific validation error in Rich Text fields.
- Test the same text after replacing the suspect character with a plain-language equivalent, such as spelling out 'greater than or equal to', to confirm that is the actual cause before touching the rest of the file.
⚡ Quick fix
Replace or remove the offending special character, typically >= or a similar symbol, in that row's Rich Text field and reload just that row.
✓ Permanent fix
Add a pre-load text-sanitization step, a find/replace pass or a small validation script, that strips or escapes raw comparison symbols out of any field feeding a Rich Text column before the EIB file is generated.
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