Save a UTF-8 Compliant File

Learn more about the different programs supported to save a UTF-8 compliant file.

Updated over a week ago

UTF-8 (UCS Transformation Format 8) is the most common character encoding standard for electronic communication.

Files sent to Bluecore must be meet the requirements outlined here, including being UTF-8 compliant. If your list import file contains international or unicode characters, you will need to save it with UTF-8 encoding. The steps for saving your file with UTF-8 encoding will vary depending on the spreadsheet application or text editor that you use:

  • Excel (for Windows)

  • Excel (for Mac)

  • NotePad (for Windows)

  • TextEdit (for Mac)

  • Google Sheets


EXCEL (for Windows)

  1. Go to File > Save as

  2. In the Save as type drop-down, select Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt) or CSV (Comma delimited).

  3. In the Tools drop-down, select Web Options.

  4. From the Encoding tab, choose Unicode (UTF-8).

  5. Click Ok.

  6. Click Save.

EXCEL (for Mac)

Excel for Mac does not support the import or export of UTF-8 encoded files. To save your file with UTF-8 encoding, use another spreadsheet program (e.g., Google Sheets).

NOTEPAD (for Windows)

  1. Open a new document.

  2. Go to File > Save As…

  3. Under Encoding, select UTF-8.

  4. Click Save.

  • NOTE: NotePad documents are automatically saved with ANSI encoding. Manually change the encoding before saving a new document.

TEXTEDIT (for Mac)

  1. Open a new document.

  2. Go to Format > Make Plain Text.

  3. Click File > Save

  4. From the Plain Text Encoding drop-down, select Unicode (UTF-8).

  5. Click Save.

GOOGLE SHEETS

  1. Upload your file using Google Drive.

  2. Open the file with Google Sheets.

  3. Click File > Download as > Comma-separated values (.csv). The file will be automatically saved with UTF-8 encoding and downloaded to your computer.

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