2026-05-26 - Windows-Encoded File BOM Detection and Truncation¶
Release¶
AgileData.io - No More Windows File Headaches: BOM Characters Now Handled Automatically
Files created on Windows computers often contain a hidden byte-order mark (BOM) character at the very start of the file. While invisible to most text editors, this character can cause problems when AgileData processes the file — appearing as garbled data in the first field, or causing parsing failures entirely.
AgileData’s file processing layer now detects and silently strips the BOM from any Windows-encoded file before processing begins. You no longer need to pre-process or re-save your files to remove the BOM — just drop the file and AgileData handles the rest.
What was happening:
Files saved on Windows with a BOM (byte-order mark) encoding could cause the first field to contain invisible characters
This led to parsing errors or incorrect values in the first column of affected files
What this means for you:
Windows-encoded CSV and text files process correctly without any pre-processing needed
No more mysterious first-field errors from files exported from Windows applications like Excel
Last Refreshed¶
Doc Refreshed: 2026-05-26