Despite having a CSV saved as UTF-8 enabled and compliant for instance using MS Excel Save As under Tools options.

Example error items logged, in Title field import

The content Il ministero dell�unit� nella Famiglia Paolina – V Incontro dei Governi Generali (1987) (1114) failed to validate with the following errors:

  • title.0.value: This value does not match the expected {{ charset }} charset.

The content Spagna: + Fr. Arturo Bola�os P�rez (2251) failed to validate with the following errors:

  • title.0.value: This value does not match the expected {{ charset }} charset

Actual in CSV are, respectively:

 

Export XLSX to UTF-8 CSV for Drupal Feeds

If you have Excel 2016 or newer

  1. Open the XLSX in Excel

    • Make sure all special characters (ñ, é, ü, ’) look correct in Excel.

  2. Go to File → Save As

    • Choose Browse (or “More options” in some versions).

  3. In Save as type, pick:
    CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv)
    (this option guarantees UTF-8 encoding)

  4. Click Save.

    • Excel will warn you about losing multiple sheets — click OK if you’re only exporting the current sheet.

  5. Now use this CSV in Drupal Feeds.

    • This file will already be in proper UTF-8, so the “charset” error should be gone.

If you have Excel 2013 or older

Older Excel doesn’t have a “CSV UTF-8” option. Do this instead:

  1. Open the XLSX in Excel.

  2. File → Save As → Unicode Text (*.txt)

    • This will save in UTF-16 with tab delimiters.

  3. Open the .txt file in Notepad.

  4. File → Save As

    • In Encoding, select UTF-8.

    • Change the extension from .txt to .csv.

  5. Now you have a UTF-8 CSV ready for Feeds.

Convert XLSX to UTF-8 CSV in Excel 2013 or older

1️⃣ Open the XLSX

  • Open your source file in Excel.

  • Make sure all special characters (ñ, é, ü, ’) look correct here — if they’re already garbled, they’ll need fixing before export.

2️⃣ Save as Unicode Text

  • Go to File → Save As.

  • In the “Save as type” dropdown, choose:
    Unicode Text (*.txt)

  • Save it somewhere easy to find.

  • You’ll get a tab-delimited .txt file in UTF-16 encoding.

3️⃣ Convert to UTF-8 CSV using Notepad

  • Right-click the .txt file → Open with → Notepad.

  • Go to File → Save As.

  • At the bottom, set:

    • Encoding: UTF-8

    • File name: change .txt to .csv (for example, myfile.csv)

  • Click Save.

4️⃣ Adjust delimiters if needed

  • The file from Excel will be tab-delimited because that’s how “Unicode Text” saves.

  • If your Drupal Feeds importer expects commas instead of tabs:

    • Open the CSV in Notepad++ or another text editor.

    • Replace all \t (tabs) with , (commas).

    • Save again in UTF-8.

5️⃣ Import into Drupal Feeds

  • Now you have a UTF-8 CSV that Drupal will accept without throwing the {{ charset }} validation error.