Import data with Unicode characters to Salesforce via Data Loader

by Issac Chua

/ Salesforce

Today, we are going to talk about how to import data that contains Unicode Characters (ex: Chinese characters '你好吗', or arabic characters 'اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ‎' and etc. ) into Salesforce using Data Loader.

So why would I create this post for something that is so intuitive and straightforward, you might ask? Well, I don't think so. I am sure there are some admins who are facing the same issue as I am and I think this post would be a great help. Without further ado, let's get into it!

NOTE: this post might be more relevant to Windows user.

Say, you are asked to upload new accounts and you are given an excel file that contains Chinese characters like this:

You open up Data Loader and want to insert new accounts and you realize that this file is not shown in the file explorer.

You realize that it's not in .csv format, that's why. So, you save the file in .csv format.

Now, you are able to choose the .csv file, map the field and upload it into Salesforce. But now, your account names are screwed. What is happening?

You go back and check the .csv that you saved earlier and found out that the data doesn't seem right. Where are my account names???

Don't worry! Let me show you the trick how to solve this issue!

  1. First, we save the original Excel file as Unicode Text file.

  1. Use Notepad to open the Unicode Text file.

  1. Save as type "All Files", Encoding as "UTF-8", and append .csv to the end of the file name, then click Save to save the file.

  1. Choose the new .csv file and upload in Data Loader. Ta-da! Now you are able to see the correct account names in Salesforce!

Well, that's all about it! Thanks for reading!