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How can I fix Corrupted Characters when Saving a .CSV with Excel?

Last Updated: June 2024

Sometimes when you’re creating your import file you may come across an unorthodox or “non-standard” character. Sometimes these characters are a result of a corrupted save and need to be sorted out and fixed. However, sometimes users DO want to use “non-standard” characters and they have trouble with them becoming corrupted when Excel saves the .CSV. Here are some options you can use to troubleshoot the problem.

  1. Try saving the file as .CSV UTF-8 (Comma-Delimited) (*.csv) from the available .CSV save options.

    1. CSV UTF-8 (Comma-delimited) (*.csv)

    2. CSV (Comma-delimited) (*.csv)

    3. CSV (Macintosh) (*.csv)

    4. CSV (MS-DOS) (*.csv)

  2. Try saving the document in another program. We’ve found, for instance, that using Numbers (for Mac users) will save the .CSV without corrupting the special characters.

  3. Ensure you are choosing to save as a CSV (Comma Delimited) and not a CSV (MS-DOS), as DOS doesn't support UTF-8 characters.

  4. Try Saving as a .xls file, then saving to a .CSV. Some users have reported that the issue occurs when saving from a .xlsx format to a .csv format and that saving as .xls before saving as a .csv resolves the issue.