---
title: "What Does “Data Conflict!” Mean?"
description: "**Issue:** When you click **Save**, a red **Data Conflict!** message appears and the record isn't saved. ![The Data Conflict message with the reload data link](https://support.symbiant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/what-does-data-conflict-mean-01-message.png) **Cause:** Symbiant protects records from being overwritten by accident. If two people have the same…"
url: "https://support.symbiant.co.uk/kb/what-does-data-conflict-mean/"
updated: "2026-10-30"
category: "System Errors & Issues"
---

# What Does “Data Conflict!” Mean?

**Issue:** When you click **Save**, a red **Data Conflict!** message appears and the record isn't saved.

![The Data Conflict message with the reload data link](https://support.symbiant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/what-does-data-conflict-mean-01-message.png)

**Cause:** Symbiant protects records from being overwritten by accident. If two people have the same record open, and one of them saves a change to a field, the other person's screen is now out of date. When the second person saves a different value in that same field, Symbiant stops the save rather than silently undo the first person's work.

**Note:** If the two people changed *different* fields, Symbiant merges both changes and saves normally. A conflict only happens when the same field was changed.

**Fix:**

1. Click **reload data** in the message (or click the **Sync** icon at the top and choose **Reload data**).
2. Symbiant loads the latest saved version. Where your version and the saved version differ, the other value is shown under the field with an **Insert** option.

![A field showing an alternative value with Insert](https://support.symbiant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/saving-a-record-04-differences.png)

1. Check the change. Click **Insert** to use the value shown under the field, or leave the field as it is.
2. Click **Save**.

**Tip:** To avoid conflicts, close records you are not working on and don't leave records open in several browser tabs.

## Related Articles

- [System Error Messages](https://support.symbiant.co.uk/kb/system-error-messages/)
- [Saving a Record: Save, Save and Edit, Cancel and Undo](https://support.symbiant.co.uk/kb/saving-a-record-save-and-edit-cancel-undo/)
- [Editing a Record](https://support.symbiant.co.uk/kb/editing-a-record/)