How to fix WooCommerce CSV UTF-8 and garbled text errors

What WooCommerce expects

WooCommerce’s core product importer recommends CSV files encoded as UTF-8. Columns need a consistent delimiter, and values containing commas must be escaped or quoted correctly. A valid extension alone does not guarantee any of those things.

1. Identify an encoding or delimiter problem

Encoding trouble often turns characters such as accented letters or currency symbols into replacement marks or garbled sequences. A hidden byte-order mark can also alter the first heading. If an entire row appears in one column, the more likely cause is a semicolon or tab delimiter instead of a comma.

2. Export as UTF-8 CSV from your spreadsheet

Open the source workbook and use its export or Save As flow to select a UTF-8 CSV format. In Excel, importing the file through Data → From Text/CSVlets you choose UTF-8 and confirm the delimiter in the preview. In Google Sheets, download the active sheet as a comma-separated values file.

3. Protect commas, quotes, and line breaks

Product names, descriptions, and categories can contain punctuation that also has meaning in CSV. A field containing a comma should be quoted correctly. A quotation mark inside a quoted field must be escaped by the exporter. Avoid manually joining rows or columns in a text editor unless you understand CSV escaping.

4. Check headings before importing

Compare the first row with WooCommerce’s product CSV schema. Remove blank rows above the header and watch for a strange character before the first heading. On the Column Mapping screen, confirm that WooCommerce recognized the intended columns; unknown headings are ignored unless you map them.

5. Test the corrected file safely

Keep the original file, export a fresh UTF-8 copy, and test a handful of rows on a staging store or after taking a backup. Confirm international characters, prices, categories, and descriptions before importing the full catalog.