> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.infotopics.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.infotopics.com/writebackextreme/troubleshooting-and-faq/extension-errors/malformed-utf-8-characters.-possibly-incorrectly-encoded.md).

# Malformed UTF-8 characters. Possibly incorrectly encoded

WriteBackExtreme only supports data in UTF-8 Encoding. When your database table has characters other than UTF-8 this error message may be displayed.

#### Databricks Users: 

If you are using DataBricks this issue may happen when you are using Paragraph fields (long text fields). The default max string length of the ODBC driver is 255 characters. When you use the Paragraph field in WriteBackExtreme you can go up to 4000 characters and this will break the ODBC driver.

You can fix this by adding the following setting to your ODBC configuration:

Windows see **section K**: <https://docs.infotopics.com/writebackextreme/product-guide/database-connections/databricks/windows>

Linux see **DefaultStringColumnLength**: <https://docs.infotopics.com/writebackextreme/product-guide/database-connections/databricks/linux>

If above does not work you can also add it in the Management Console:

<figure><img src="https://content.gitbook.com/content/0gkOLIfzuEyMP2kvoT9o/blobs/ViElY54p660DN5vQIJUl/Scherm%C2%ADafbeelding%202025-04-11%20om%2014.01.45.png" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>


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