Hi David, check this out: http://wiki.typo3.org/wiki/UTF-8_support In the chapter "convert existing database" there is a small sript db_urf8_fix.zip. This script did my trick when I upgraded 4.2.17 websites to 4.5.3. You also have to make sure that the utf-8 parameter are correctly set in your install tool. Regards, Dominic