Strange characters after a Shopify CSV import? Save the file as UTF-8
If é turns into é, an apostrophe into ’, or letters into �, the CSV was saved in one character encoding and read in another. Shopify expects UTF-8. Re-save the file correctly and import again.
What goes wrong
Text files store characters as bytes, and an encoding is the table that maps bytes to characters. Shopify reads CSV files as UTF-8. A file saved in an older encoding, such as Windows-1252 or a regional code page, uses different bytes for letters like é, ü, ş, ×, £ and curly quotes, so they turn into combinations like é or ’, or into �. Shopify’s help center recommends making sure the file is UTF-8 when strange characters appear, and encoding problems can also cause errors like “Illegal quoting on line”.
How to save a CSV as UTF-8
| Program | How |
|---|---|
| Excel (Windows and Mac) | File → Save As → CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv). Not “CSV (Comma delimited)”, and not “CSV (Macintosh)” or “CSV (MS-DOS)”. |
| Google Sheets | File → Download → Comma-separated values (.csv). Google Sheets writes UTF-8. |
| Apple Numbers | File → Export To → CSV, open Advanced Options and choose Unicode (UTF-8). |
| LibreOffice Calc | File → Save As → Text CSV, tick Edit filter settings, choose Unicode (UTF-8) and comma as the separator. |
Fixing a file that is already garbled
- Go back to the original spreadsheet, if you have it, and save it again as CSV UTF-8. This is the cleanest fix.
- If you only have the CSV, open it in Excel through Data → From Text/CSV and try different values under File Origin (for example 1252: Western European, or your regional encoding) until the preview shows the letters correctly. Load it, then save as CSV UTF-8.
- Check a few products with accented letters in a text editor before importing.
- If products already imported with broken characters, fix the file and re-import with Overwrite products with matching handles checked, or correct them in the admin.
Does the byte order mark (BOM) matter?
Excel’s “CSV UTF-8” option adds a byte order mark (three invisible bytes at the start) so Excel recognizes the encoding when it reopens the file. Shopify imports UTF-8 files with or without it. Some older tools show the mark as  before the first column name; if you see that in a header, re-save the file as CSV UTF-8 from Excel or Google Sheets.
Files from suppliers in other languages
Supplier files from Turkey, Germany, Poland and elsewhere are often saved in a regional encoding, so letters like ş, ğ, ü or ł are the first to break. Sheet2Store reads UTF-8 CSV files and falls back to the Turkish Windows code page for Turkish supplier CSVs, and XLSX files don’t have this problem at all. Its Shopify and WooCommerce exports are always written as UTF-8.
Frequently asked questions
What does é mean?
It is how é looks when UTF-8 bytes are read as Windows-1252. The file is UTF-8 but was opened or converted with the wrong encoding somewhere along the way.
Is “CSV (Comma delimited)” in Excel wrong?
It uses your system’s legacy encoding, which breaks non-English characters. Choose “CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited)” instead.
Can I fix encoding inside Shopify?
Not in bulk. Fix the CSV and re-import, or edit the affected products in the admin.
Turn a supplier file into an import-ready CSV
Upload a supplier PDF, Excel or CSV price list. Map the columns, set your markup, fix flagged rows and download a Shopify or WooCommerce CSV. The first five rows are free to preview.