Error Message: Character not supported

[GRCOhio]

I copied and pasted text into my email and got this error message when trying to save:

"The character _ in the following text is not supported: a reduction of 5.7 billion packs sold"

Is it telling me there is an underscore that needs to be deleted? Because there isn't any. I retyped the entire same sentence rather than copying and pasting and it worked fine. 

[Nick_S.]

Hello @GRCOhio,

Thank you for coming to the Community to let us know you are experiencing this issue. I've heard of similar instances happening when text is copied from another source and pasted into a block in our editor. It's possible the text was carrying over "invisible" formatting that we can't see on the forward-facing side of the editor but might have been appearing in the HTML code of the block. It would explain why it worked fine after you retyped it out manually. 

I'm happy to hear it is working now, but if you would like us to take a closer look please email us at social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com with your username, the text you were copying and pasting, and a reference to this post. If you are able to provide the original source of the text (was it in a Word document, on a website, or in an email sent to you, etc.) then we should be able to replicate what you experienced. 

[FrankDuncanG]

I have had the same problem twice tonight with NO WORK AROUND.

This is absurd and not user friendly and their are NO hidden characters as I have examined the html.

May be time to switch services...

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @FrankDuncanG. I apologize that you were experiencing this issue as well with an error message. Did you copy and paste text into the block you were working in? If you did, it's possible that the pasting brought over some hidden characters that our editor does not support and that's why you saw the error. What I recommend when copying and pasting is to first paste your text into a text editor such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac) and then bring that text into your Constant Contact campaign. This usually resolves the issue. 

Please let us know if you are continuing to have trouble with your campaign. 

[FCCOG]

I've had the same issues for years. I've dumped things into Text Edit (Mac) as you suggest, but they still aren't supported. Please fix this, or we will find another, easier format for our email usage.

[Curtis_P]

Hello @FCCOG,

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience with this. Unfortunately, some characters are unable to be stripped out by programs like TextEdit and Notepad. This makes it difficult to copy and paste from some locations. For these sections of text, it may be best to re-type them if possible for the time being. I will be sure to submit your feedback to the appropriate teams in hopes that this can be improved. Thank you for your patience with this.

[Mission2Organize]

This is ridiculous. I should be able to copy and paste from my email. After spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the problem was (deleting, reformatting, retyping), I copied it into Word, edited the text and brought it back over. Still no good. Who has time for this nonsense?! 

[Taryn_L]

@Mission2Organize

Thank you for reaching out to the Community. I apologize you are having issues copying and pasting into your email campaign. Unfortunately Microsoft Word can copy over extra formatting into your email. I would recommend using Notepad (if you are working on a PC) or TextEdit (if you are working on a MAC).

These programs should strip any extra coding that could be causing the issues. You can paste your text into these programs and then re-copy to paste into your email campaign. I would recommend using a fresh block in your email as well to paste the content into.

I hope this helps! In the meantime, if you have any further questions please feel free to reach out to us here. We are always happy to assist you in any way we can!

[MaryF265]

Hi I have done what you suggested and still get the same error, please help! 

[Nichelle_M]

Hi @MaryF265,

Thanks for reaching out and we do apologize for any frustrations with unsupported characters. If you are still getting the error after using Notepad or TextEdit you'll need to re-type the text manually into the editor. We're sorry for any extra steps that are involved, however, copying text from another source can also copy problematic formatting or hidden code that doesn't work with our system. I will definitely submit your feedback to our programmers about this, and in the meantime please let us know if you need any further assistance.

[ColleenZ1]

Just started getting this error, even copying into a Notepad or a program that strips HTML won't work, there are no hidden characters or em dashes (somehow Constant Contact doesn't support those either). I have a lengthy email I need to send from our President and I guess I have to waste my time retyping the entire message by hand. I don't understand how something can be so outdated.

[Adelina_R]

Hello @ColleenZ1 

Thanks for reaching out and we do apologize for any frustrations with unsupported characters. If you are still getting the error after using Notepad or TextEdit you'll need to re-type the text manually into the editor. We're sorry for any extra steps that are involved, however, copying text from another source can also copy problematic formatting or hidden code that doesn't work with our system. I will definitely submit your feedback to our programmers about this, and in the meantime please let us know if you need any further assistance.