Fix Special Characters in a HubSpot Import CSV

What the error actually means

HubSpot requires an import file to be UTF-8 encoded when it contains foreign-language characters. Garbled names usually indicate that an earlier application decoded or saved the CSV with the wrong encoding. Correct encoding does not by itself satisfy HubSpot’s header, row or subscription-specific import limits.

Likely causes

• The contact export uses a legacy code page.
• The file was opened and resaved with the wrong encoding.
• The displayed characters were already replaced before the current copy was created.
• The import has a property-mapping problem that resembles an encoding failure.

A safe repair workflow

1. 1Preview the untouched source under likely encodings.
2. 2Convert the copy that correctly displays known multilingual values to UTF-8.
3. 3Check that the file has one header row and one sheet-equivalent table.
4. 4Upload a small sample and inspect the property mapping before completing the full import.

How to verify the result

A file that downloads successfully is not automatically a correct file. Check the result at both the structural and business-data levels:

• Known multilingual names match the source system.
• Unique identifiers map to the intended HubSpot property.
• Every column has a deliberate mapping or exclusion.
• The HubSpot result accounts for all sample rows.