Inconsistent Select-One Values in Kobo Export Despite Selecting “Labels”

User Support
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1

Hello Kobo Community,

I am facing an issue while exporting data from KoboToolbox. For the same select-one questions, some records are exported with the actual labels, while other records are exported with the internal choice names or codes.

For example:



Date        State             District   Block/Area             Facility Type
2026-05-19  MADHYA PRADESH    JABALPUR   JABALPUR BARGI(RURAL)  AAM SHC
2026-05-20  state1            district5  block35                type8
2026-05-21  state1            district5  block30                type10
2026-05-20  state1            district6  block38                type3

In the first record, the exported file shows the correct labels:

  • MADHYA PRADESH
  • JABALPUR
  • JABALPUR BARGI (RURAL)
  • AAM SHC

However, in the remaining records, it shows the internal choice names:

  • state1

  • district5

  • block35

  • type8

I have already selected the following export settings:

  • Values and header format: Labels

  • Select-one questions to be exported using labels

Despite choosing these settings, I am still getting a mix of labels and internal choice names in the same exported file.

All these submissions are from the same form and the same questions. I need the export to consistently display the choice labels rather than the internal choice names.

Could someone please help me understand:

  1. Why are labels appearing for some submissions while internal choice names appear for others

  2. Could this be related to form updates, redeployment, or submissions collected using different versions of the form?

  3. Why is the “Labels” export setting not converting all stored values into labels?

  4. How can I export the existing submissions so that all records consistently show the correct labels?

  5. Is there a way to map the stored values such as state1, district5, block35, and type8 to their corresponding labels within Kobo?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

2

You probably added some labels (in the exported language) during updates of your form.

3

Yes. As @wroos alludes to, if you added - or changed - any of your select options in different versions of your form, then you may have some submissions where the raw selected name value strings dont actually exist anymore in the latest form version; eg you renamed “Apple” to “apple” as a choice name value, even though you still have the same choice label for it.

Kobo will try to lookup the relevant select_one (or select_multiple) choice labels for the raw choice name values that are stored in the actual submission data. But if it cant find a match, then there is no recourse but to display the raw value - that’s probably why you are seeing them for some (older?) submissions but not newer ones where the choice names are still valid where it can give you the desired label instead.

4

Thanks for the suggestions @wroos and @Xiphware Please let me know what i should do to rectify