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michaelh16436857
Participating Frequently
April 8, 2019
Question

Corrupt Files

  • April 8, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 2907 views

Hi folks. Something strange is happening with Dreamweaver's file manager.

I just upgraded to Dreamweaver 19.1 but have noticed this in earlier versions as well.

I'm using MacOS 10.13.6. I also have AVG installed but I'm able to reproduce the below whether I have it enabled or not so that doesn't seem to be a factor.

Otherwise just a very normal setup / nothing unusual with my network or software etc.

So we normally have production and development sites, each with separate FTP accounts. I would sync both and often use FileMerge to compare the two sets of files. I've been noticing recently that certain files seem to have differences that are unexplainable (because they were happening to files that we weren't changing as part of our work e.g. JS libraries).

On closer inspection, these files would contain strings of unknown characters (see screenshot).

If I view the original file on the web server using the file manager in Plesk, this corruption is not there.

I dug a little bit further and tried downloading the file using a third party FTP client.

There is nothing wrong with the file on the server. When I download the file with Cyberduck, there is no corruption. When I download the file with Dreamweaver, the corruption seems to happen.

Has anybody else experienced this issue?

3 replies

B
BruceThompson
Participant
April 24, 2025

I frequently come accross this problem. It is caused by using utf8mb4 characters, symbols or emoji, probably in an older file.  If the file contains any symbols or emoji, when it opens the file, Dreamweaver (sometimes) helpfully displays a message saying: 

"The document's current encoding can not correctly save all of the characters within the document. You may want to change to UTF-8 or an encoding that supports the special characters in this document. Then an Ok button."

However I can find no way to actually change the document format from with Dreamweaver, and the character corruption occurs when you try to save. My workaround, if this occurs, is to edit the file in TextEdit, or BBEdit, and then save it somewhere safe.

This does not happen when a new file is created in Dreamweaver, if I set my preferences to:

     Default Encoding (UTF-8)
     Use when opening existing files that don't specify an encoding (Checked)
     Include unicode Signature (BOM) (UNCHECKED)

Copy the contents of the saved file using TextEdit or BBEdit
Paste the contents into the new file in Dreamweaver, and save it.
The Save As dialogue will now give Unicode Normalisation Form, and the Unicode Signature option. Leave them both alone.
Save, upload the file and test.

Dreamweaver copes with the file correctly after that and will display utf8mb4 characters as they should be (Enlarge 🔍, Shrink 🔽).

Maybe Dreamweaver devs could provide a simpler, more obvious way to force encoding when saving a older file? 

Nayan_Kankariya
Community Manager
Nayan_KankariyaCommunity Manager
Community Manager
April 9, 2019

Hi michaelh16436857​,

Can you please confirm the Encoding type of the document. We suggest you to try changing the Encoding of the document to the correct encoding type of the file downloaded. This setting is available within Page Properties dialog. You may have to save the document post changing the Encoding type.

You can invoke Page Properties dialog from File menu.

If the issue is still reproducible, can you please share the file with us so that we can investigate the issue internally.

Below is the screenshot for your reference.

Please confirm if this resolves the issue, else will investigate this further.

Thanks,

Nayan

Dreamweaver Team

M
michaelh16436857Author
Participating Frequently
April 9, 2019

Hi there.

I have tried changing the encoding however this doesn't seem to resolve the problem. The unknown characters are still present in the file.

When I download the file via Dreamweaver then view it I notice the encoding is in Western (ISO Latin 1), however all files should be in UTF-8.

When I download the file directly from the server using a file manager, the file is correctly encoded as UTF-8, however when I download the exact same file via Dreamweaver it is in ISO Latin 1.

Is Dreamweaver setting the encoding?

You can download both files via the following link. The first jquery-ui.min.js is the original and correct version, which I have downloaded using the file manager. The second file jquery-ui.min 2.js is showing the unknown characters (e.g. line 7 col 53).

WeTransfer

Nayan_Kankariya
Community Manager
Nayan_KankariyaCommunity Manager
Community Manager
April 11, 2019

Hi michaelh16436857​,

Thanks for providing the test files. We are unable to reproduce this issue internally with our FTP servers. Hence, can you please provide us the server's file encoding details of the FTP server from where you are downloading the file if possible.

Also, it would be great if you can provide us a test account credentials for us to connect to your server. This will help us in replicating the issue and investigate it accordingly. This will be used for internal investigation purpose only.

You can write to me at kankariy@adobe.com .

Thanks,

Nayan

Dreamweaver Team

HARSHIKA_VERMA
Community Manager
HARSHIKA_VERMACommunity Manager
Community Manager
April 8, 2019

Hi Michaelh16436857,

Thanks for sharing the screenshot and detailed description of the troubleshooting steps that you have performed.

As your files are getting corrupt after upgrading to the Dreamweaver 19.1, I would suggest you open these files in Texteditor, as this type of problem occurs because of the file format. Try copying the entire code and create a new file in Dreamweaver with appropriate extension and paste the code in it.

Please try these steps and let me know if it works for you.

Regards,

Harshika

M
michaelh16436857Author
Participating Frequently
April 8, 2019

Hello Harshika thank you for your response.

I have tried the following:

1. Open the original file in TextEditor

2. Create a new file in Dreamweaver

3. Copy and paste the code from the original file into the new one

4. Save the file in DW (overwriting the old one)

5. Upload the file to the remote site

Whilst this appears to solve the problem in the short term, if I Quit and then re-open Dreamweaver, then download the file again, the file is corrupted once again. It seems to happen whenever the file is downloaded.

Is there a long term solution to this issue?

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 8, 2019

I have seen corruptions occur when files are moved from Windows to server to Macs and back again.

Go to Preferences, Code Format.  What type of Line Break are you using?

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
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