What is the issue?

You upload keywords/creatives in the platform, but the upload fails with Sync errors. In the Activity Log, you see Error File containing a message like this:
 

What cause the issue?

When you have these characters in your keywords and/or ad text, Excel cannot handle them, so the upload fails.

• Non-standard punctuation such as double-byte characters (�) or other foreign characters such as ä, è, ë.
• Violations of Google's Punctuation and symbols policy such as:
  • Exclamation mark in the ad's headline
  • More than one exclamation mark in the ad text
  • Repeated punctuation or symbols
  • Symbols, numbers, and letters that don't adhere to their true meaning
  • Bullet points

How to fix the issue

You can fix the non-standard punctuation issue by following these steps:
 

1. Download the file with the error.
2. Copy the column you need to edit, and paste it into a Word document.
3. Click the function button "Show all nonprinting characters" in Word.
4. Find the non-standard punctuation and replace it with a space.
5. Copy the edited text and paste it in the file you downloaded in step 1.
6. Upload it to the platform.

You can fix the special characters for other languages issue by following these steps:
 

1. Save your bulk upload file as a Unicode Text file.
2. Change the bulk file's encoding to UTF-8.
3. This will ensure the special characters are handled correctly and the upload should be successful.

Additional Information

• If the above does not work and you continue to encounter the same issue, you should contact your Google representative.
• You can learn more about Google's editorial policies regarding Google Ads here. 
• See the article How to Avoid Excel Character Encoding for more details on how to avoid and fix excel character encoding.