Do you often face problems where, after importing products from a CSV file, some characters don’t display correctly and instead show up as “?” or strange symbols? Don’t worry — this is a common WooCommerce issue that can be fixed easily. In this guide, we’ll explain why it happens and how to fix UTF-8 character issues during WooCommerce product imports.
Many times, if you use special characters like ±, ®, ©, °, etc., they appear as “?” after importing. Let’s see why this happens and how to solve it.
Why Do UTF-8 Character Problems Occur?
WooCommerce expects your CSV files to be encoded in UTF-8, which supports special characters, accents, and symbols from most languages.
However, when you create or edit a CSV file in tools like Excel or Google Sheets, it sometimes gets saved in a different encoding format such as ANSI or Windows-1252.
When WooCommerce tries to read that file, it misinterprets those characters and shows weird symbols or question marks instead.
Don’t Worry — Here’s the Solution to Fix UTF-8 Character Issues
There are two easy ways to fix this issue:
Solution 1: Use HTML Entity Codes for Special Characters
This solution works with any CSV format.
For special characters like ±, ®, ©, or °, use their HTML entity codes in your CSV content:
| Symbol | HTML Entity Code (paste into CSV) |
|---|---|
| ± | ± |
| ® | ® |
| © | © |
| ° | ° |
When you import the CSV into WooCommerce, these entities will render properly on the website, ensuring all special symbols display correctly.
Solution 2: Save and Import the CSV File with UTF-8 Encoding
Step 1: Open the CSV File in Google Sheets
- Go to Google Sheets → File → Import → Upload your CSV file.
- Verify that all characters (like accents and apostrophes) display correctly.
- Once confirmed, move to the next step.
Step 2: Download the CSV in UTF-8 Format
In Google Sheets:
– Go to File → Download → Comma-Separated Values (.csv, current sheet).
Google Sheets automatically exports in UTF-8 encoding, which WooCommerce reads perfectly.
If you prefer using Excel:
– Go to Save As → Tools → Web Options → Encoding → Unicode (UTF-8) before saving the file.
Final Step: Import the CSV into WooCommerce
- Go to WooCommerce → Products → Import.
- Upload your corrected UTF-8 CSV file.
- Check that all fields are mapped correctly.
- Click Run the Importer.Once the import is complete, check your products — all special characters should now display perfectly.
Fixing UTF-8 character issues in WooCommerce CSV imports doesn’t have to be complicated. By identifying encoding mismatches, saving your CSV files in UTF-8 format, and testing imports carefully, you can ensure your product data displays perfectly every time. Maintaining clean, properly formatted files not only improves accuracy but also saves hours of manual correction.
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