QBWC1042: ASCII Codec Can't Encode

When a sync between QuickBooks Desktop and Maxio Core fails because of a non-standard character in your QuickBooks data, the Web Connector log records a Python-style encoding error like the one below, with the exact character and position varying each time.

'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xa0' in position 292467: ordinal not in range(128) See QWCLog for more details. Remember to turn logging on.

QuickBooks Desktop's Web Connector reuses the QBWC1042 error code for a second, unrelated problem: a sync that runs past the Web Connector's own built-in timeout. If your error message mentions a timed-out operation rather than an ASCII codec or encoding issue, see Web Connector Error QBWC1042: The Operation Timed Out instead, since that variant has a different cause and a different fix.

Why non-standard characters cause this error

As a Microsoft Windows application, QuickBooks Desktop supports a variety of characters that Windows recognizes but that a modern web-based system like Maxio Core does not. These characters can be invisible to you, or they can look completely normal, but under the technical covers they are characters Maxio Core cannot recognize. In almost all cases, these characters are inserted into QuickBooks Desktop through a copy/paste action: a QuickBooks Desktop user creates or edits a Customer and pastes in a name, address, email address, or other value from an Outlook email or a Word document, since both of those Microsoft applications also support non-standard characters that QuickBooks Desktop accepts without complaint. When one of those characters reaches Maxio Core during the sync, it cannot be encoded, and the sync fails with the error above.

Locate and remove the non-standard characters

Because the bad characters can be invisible, there is no way for you to spot them by inspecting the record yourself in QuickBooks Desktop, so Maxio Core must examine the actual contents of your QuickBooks file to determine where they are located.

Choose one of the following two options to get your data to Maxio Core for inspection

1. Create a copy of your QuickBooks file and send it to Maxio Core for analysis. Contact support@maxio.com for directions on how to send your file.
2. Run an extraction routine yourself to get the data and send it to Maxio Core. See Web Connector ASCII Character Issues for the extraction steps.

Once Maxio Core identifies which record and field contain the bad character, remove it from QuickBooks Desktop before the sync can proceed.

Prevent non-standard characters from reaching QuickBooks Desktop

Since these characters typically enter QuickBooks Desktop through a copy/paste from an Outlook email or a Word document, type Customer, Invoice, and other record information directly into QuickBooks Desktop instead of pasting it in. Typing the values avoids carrying over invisible, non-standard characters that Maxio Core cannot encode during a sync.