I normally migrate databases for wordpress installs using wp_sync_db plugin. It has never failed before. Now when I’m trying to migrate from my local development server to the live site it’s giving the following error.
I’ve tried only migrating specific fields, but it always runs into an error, just the field will be different.
I’ve tried to manually import the database to the live site and that is also failing with this error: 
I’m not a database expert, and this is really frustrating. I have about two days of work I’m trying to migrate to the live site and can’t do it with these errors.
I’ve been working on trying to solve this issue for a few hours, but have got no where. I’ve tried deleting the fields mentioned in the error, but that changes nothing. I’ve tried about 1000 different variations and configurations and it just keeps failing.
Please some database expert step in and save me!
I have no idea about the wp_sync_db plugin, but the phpMyAdmin error comes from having an older version of MySQL on your host which doesn’t support the utf8mb4_unicode_ci collation.
You could look for the “Database system or older MySQL server to maximize output compatibility with:” dropdown on the phpMyAdmin export page, then select MYSQL40 there, but you run the risk of losing data if you have multibyte characters stored in your database.
This support page has a good summary of the situation and strongly suggests that you make your local MySQL version match as closely to your hosted version as possible, but that seems like a harsh reality in which to develop. I’m not a WordPress expert, but I believe that if you export for MYSQL40 compatibility and check the resulting imported data for any flaws you should be relatively safe.