Fix corrupted accented names in a supplier price CSV

A supplier’s name appears as José instead of José, or a row contains strange symbols where accented letters should be. That can make a price review harder to verify, especially when supplier names are used to match quotes, invoices, and catalog entries.

This is often an encoding mismatch: the file’s character data was read using the wrong text format. You can inspect the affected rows with the CSV Editor, then work out whether to re-import the original file or correct the data from a reliable source.

Inspect the supplier names in the CSV

1. Make a copy of the supplier price CSV first. Open the copy in the CSV Editor so you can inspect rows without changing your original.
2. Search for a supplier name you know contains an accent, such as José, François, or Müller. Check the same supplier in any other rows in the file.
3. Compare the displayed name with a trusted source, such as the supplier’s quote or an earlier approved price list. Check the supplier identifier too, if the sheet has one.
4. Look at nearby columns, including item number, description, unit, and price. Confirm that the name problem is limited to text and that the row still matches the right supplier and product.
5. Note whether the issue affects every accented name or only a few cells. This helps distinguish a file-wide encoding problem from a typo in one entry.

The CSV Editor can help you find and edit rows, but do not assume that changing a garbled name repairs the file’s original encoding. First identify which version of the text is trustworthy.

What the corrupted text means

Accented letters turn into sequences such as é

This pattern often means UTF-8 text was interpreted as a different encoding, such as Windows-1252. In UTF-8, a character like é can use more than one byte. If another program reads those bytes as separate characters, the result may look like é. The original information may still be recoverable if the file has not been repeatedly opened and saved in the wrong format.

A replacement diamond or question mark appears

A character shown as � may mean the reader could not decode the original bytes. A question mark in place of an accent may mean the text was saved after the character had already been lost. In that case, the CSV may not contain enough information to restore the exact spelling. Get the name from the original supplier data instead of guessing.

Only one supplier name is wrong

A single misspelling or damaged cell may be an edit error rather than a file-wide encoding mismatch. Compare it with the supplier’s official name and check whether other names with the same accented character display correctly. Correct only the affected cell once you have a reliable reference.

The name looks right in one program and wrong in another

The programs may be reading the same CSV using different encoding assumptions. The file can appear correct in one place while another program displays garbled text. Verify the saved file in the program that will be used for the price review, not just in the editor where you made the change.

How to fix the names safely

1. Keep an untouched copy. Save the original supplier CSV separately from your review copy. If the correction causes a problem, you can return to the original rather than trying to undo a chain of edits.
2. Get a fresh export when the encoding is unclear. Ask the supplier to resend the price list as a UTF-8 CSV, or export it again from the source system with UTF-8 selected. This is usually safer than correcting many names by hand.
3. Choose the encoding when importing the original. If your spreadsheet or data program offers an import step, select UTF-8 for a UTF-8 file. If that displays the names incorrectly, ask the supplier which encoding they used rather than trying random choices on the only copy.
4. Use a trusted reference for damaged cells. If only a few names are affected, copy the correct spelling from an approved supplier list or confirmation. Do not infer an accent from a garbled sequence, especially when two suppliers have similar names.
5. Review the whole row before saving. Check the supplier, item description, quantity, currency, and price together. A correct name paired with the wrong supplier’s price is still an error in the review.
6. Reopen the saved copy and check it again. Confirm that accented names still display correctly after saving and reopening in the program used for the review. Also check that columns and quoted text remain in the right places.

If you need a broader walkthrough of encoding problems in supplier data, see Supplier price CSV encoding errors: how to fix them.

Reduce the chance of another mismatch

A CSV is plain text, and it does not always carry a clear instruction telling every program how to read its characters. One program may guess correctly while another guesses differently. Repeatedly opening and saving a file with the wrong choice can turn a display problem into permanent changes to the text.

For recurring price reviews, keep the original supplier export unchanged and use a separate working copy. Ask suppliers to use UTF-8 consistently, and record which export or file version you reviewed. If names are used to match supplier records, retain a stable supplier ID as well, since spellings can vary and an accent is not a reliable identifier on its own.

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