Mysterious characters during CSV import? That's what's behind it!
You want to upload users to Moodle via CSV import, but suddenly strange characters appear in the names or email addresses? Umlauts are displayed incorrectly, the "ß" disappears or cryptic symbols appear? Don't worry - the problem is usually due to the character set of the file.
Why is this happening?
Many programs, including Excel, save CSV files in the Win-1252 character set by default, which is designed for Western European languages. Moodle, on the other hand, uses UTF-8, a universal character set that also supports special characters from other languages.
The solution: Choose the right encoding
When importing CSV files into Moodle, you must specify the character set in which the file was saved. If you have exported the file from Excel, this is usually Win-1252. Select this encoding when uploading so that Moodle can convert the characters correctly.
Tip
If the import still fails, open the CSV file in a text editor and save it again in UTF-8 format. This will ensure that all characters are transferred correctly.
With the right settings, your CSV import will work without any problems - and cryptic characters will be a thing of the past.
Would you like to learn more about the smooth CSV import and other Moodle functions? In our Moodle trainings we show you how to do it - in a practical and understandable way!
