YAMLSyntaxError: All collection items must start at the same column at line X column X

Question

Im getting this error when trying to run netlify CMS.

Error loading the CMS configuration
Config Errors:
YAMLSyntaxError: All collection items must start at the same column at line 71, column 5:

  - name: 'data'
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^…
Check your config.yml file.

This is my config.yml file. Everythin else works fine but when trying to access the admin im thrown that error. I checked the identation and everything seems fine to me. Checked line 51 but couldnt findwhat the syntax error is.

---
---

collections:

  - name: 'blog'
    label: 'Posts'
    folder: '_posts'
    create: true
    slug: '{{"{{year"}}}}-{{"{{month"}}}}-{{"{{day"}}}}-{{"{{slug"}}}}'
    fields:
      - { label: 'Layout', name: 'layout', widget: 'hidden', default: 'post' }
      - { label: 'Title', name: 'title', widget: 'string' }
      - { label: 'Date', name: 'date', widget: 'date', format: 'YYYY-MM-DD' }
      - { label: 'Description', name: 'description', widget: 'string' }
      - { label: 'Author', name: 'author', widget: 'string' }
      - { label: 'Excerpt', name: 'excerpt', widget: 'string' }
      - { label: 'Image', name: 'image', widget: 'image' }
      - { label: 'Thumbnail', name: 'thumbnail', widget: 'image' }
      - {
          label: 'Image credit',
          name: 'imageCredit',
          widget: 'string',
          required: false,
        }
      - { label: 'Type', name: 'type', widget: 'hidden', default: 'article' }
      - { label: 'Keywords', name: 'keywords', widget: 'string' }
      - { label: 'Tags', name: 'tags', widget: 'string' }
      - { label: 'Hidden', name: 'hidden', widget: 'boolean', default: false }
      - { label: 'Body', name: 'body', widget: 'markdown' }

  - name: 'job_openings'
    label: 'Job Openings'
    folder: '_job_openings'
    create: true
    slug: '{{"{{year"}}}}-{{"{{month"}}}}-{{"{{day"}}}}-{{"{{slug"}}}}'
    fields:
      - { label: 'Layout', name: 'layout', widget: 'hidden', default: 'job-opening' }
      - { label: 'Title', name: 'title', widget: 'string' }
      - { label: 'Location', name: 'location', widget: 'string', default: 'Remote' }
      - {
          label: 'Time',
          name: 'time',
          widget: 'select',
          options: ['Full Time', 'Half-Time / Hourly'],
        }
      - { label: 'Description', name: 'description', widget: 'text' }
      - { label: 'Salary range', name: 'salaryRange', widget: 'string', required: false }
      - label: 'Responsibilities'
        name: 'responsibilities'
        widget: 'list'
        field: {label: 'Responsibility', name: 'responsibility', widget: 'string'}
      - label: 'Requirements'
        name: 'requirements'
        widget: 'list'
        field: {label: 'Requirement', name: 'requirement', widget: 'string'}
      - { label: 'Hidden', name: 'hidden', widget: 'boolean', default: false }
  

  - name: 'data'
    label: 'Data'
    editor:
      preview: false
    files:
      - name: 'departments'
        label: 'Departments'
        file: '_data/departments.json'
        fields:
          - name: 'data'
            label: 'Departments'
            widget: 'list'
            fields:
              - { label: 'Name', name: 'name', widget: 'string' }
              - {
                  label: 'Avatar',
                  name: 'avatar',
                  widget: 'image',
                  required: false,
                }
      
      -name: 'career-pathways'          
        label: 'Pathways'
        file: '_data/career-pathways.json'
        fields:
          -name: 'data'
            label: 'Guilds'
            widget: 'list'
            fields:
              - { label: 'Name', name: 'name', widget: 'string' }
              -name: 'levels'
                label: 'Levels'
                widget: 'list'
                fields:
                  - { label: 'Title', name: 'title', widget: 'string' }
                  - { label: 'Type', name: 'type', widget: 'string' }

Again, everything works fine. I can access the collections as well. Dont really know what may be causing this.

Zandrazandt

change -name: to - name: – Rader

You fixed the issue which the question was asking about with your edit. That is not helpful to those looking for how to resolve the issue. @Rader – Outofdoors

I never made an edit. I might be overlooking something, but of the edits that were made by others, I don't see any that hide the issue with a fix - every version has a missing space in three occurrences of -name:. – Rader

Answer 1

Like Ross mentioned in the comment, you have three times -name: instead of - name: in the YAML, so just add the space between - and the key name.

There are no line numbers. But the three from the bottom.

Caffrey

Also check that tabs and spaces aren't mixed for indentation. This was the problem on my end. – Mown

In my case there was an issue with the indentation of a parameter lower down the YAML structure. The error wasn't specific enough, so I didn't know what to look for at first. – Synchronous