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DATA REPAIR FIELD GUIDE

Fix broken CSV accent and Unicode characters

Fix broken CSV accent and Unicode characters. Practical steps, common causes and a matching browser-local DataCleaner tool.

Step-by-step approach

  1. Check whether the file was saved as UTF-8, UTF-8 with BOM or a legacy single-byte encoding.
  2. If you see replacement characters, avoid saving over the source because lost bytes may be unrecoverable.
  3. Export afresh from the original software as UTF-8 when possible.
  4. Use your spreadsheet importer’s text/CSV wizard and select the correct encoding.
  5. Review accented characters, emoji and non-Latin scripts in sample records before using the data.
Try the matching tool

Open CSV Cleaner to work on a local copy. Review the result before importing it elsewhere.

Open CSV Cleaner ↗

What this does not solve

Browser tools can validate known structures and transform available data, but cannot restore deleted or corrupted bytes, infer unknown business facts, or guarantee that a target system will import every field as intended.