Error message when you try to convert a time entry to an invoice in Small Business Accounting: "String cannot be greater than 256 characters" (914285)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Management Edition 2006

SYMPTOMS

When you try to convert a time entry to an invoice in Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting, you receive the following error message:
String cannot be greater than 256 characters.
This problem occurs after you install Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Service Pack 2 with Business Contact Manager Update on the computer that is running Small Business Accounting.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the total number of characters in the Start date field and the Description field in the time entry is more than 253 characters. When you convert a time entry to an invoice, the description of the service item is a combination of the time-entry start date and the description. The time-entry start date and the description are separated by two spaces and a dash. Therefore, the Description field of the service item contains more than 256 characters.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, remove enough characters from the Description field in the time entry so that the Start date field and the Description field contain a total of 253 or fewer characters.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:4/13/2006
Keywords:kberrmsg kbtshoot kbMBSMigrate kbprb KB914285 kbAudEndUser kbAudKnowledgeWorker
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