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Why are random special characters showing up in my messages to people?
Why are random special characters showing up in my messages to people?

An explanation of how texts that are copy and pasted from outside sources may contain hidden special characters.

Lisa Willey avatar
Written by Lisa Willey
Updated over a week ago

If you are sending SMS messages out to your subscribers and notice that special characters that you did not include in the message you drafted in SimpleTexting are showing up on your Subscribers' phones, the first question we'll ask you is,

"Did you copy and paste your message from somewhere when you drafted your message?" πŸ€”

If the answer is yes, that likely explains it! Here's why:

When it comes to SMS messages, SimpleTexting supports sending plain texts only. Because of unique formatting in other platforms (like Microsoft Word, for example), it's possible that the message you pasted, while it looks correct in the platform, actually contains hidden characters that will only show up once it's sent to your subscribers.

To ensure this doesn't happen, rather than copying and pasting your SMS message directly into SimpleTexting, either:

  • manually type out your message instead, or

  • paste your message into a simple text editing platform (like the Apple Notes app, for example) first, and then copy and paste that message into SimpleTexting.

Questions? Email us at [email protected]. 😊

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