{"id":14685,"date":"2026-01-01T13:43:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T08:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.huntbee.com\/resources\/docs\/email-template-designer-pro\/emoji-unicode-utf8mb4-support-in-huntbee-extensions\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T13:46:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T08:16:54","slug":"emoji-unicode-utf8mb4-support-in-huntbee-extensions","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.huntbee.com\/resources\/docs\/email-template-designer-pro\/emoji-unicode-utf8mb4-support-in-huntbee-extensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Emoji \/ Unicode (utf8mb4) Support in HuntBee Extensions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>HuntBee extensions fully support Unicode and emoji characters (for example \ud83d\ude9a \ud83d\udce6 \ud83d\udd12).<br>However, emoji support depends on your <strong>database configuration<\/strong>, not just the extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If emojis are saved or displayed as <code>????<\/code>, please follow the steps below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Check Database Table Collation (Very Important)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Emoji characters require <strong>utf8mb4<\/strong> (4-byte UTF-8).<br>Older <code>utf8<\/code> (utf8mb3) does <strong>not<\/strong> support emojis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to check (using phpMyAdmin)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Open <strong>phpMyAdmin<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select your <strong>OpenCart database<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Locate the HuntBee table (for example: <code>oc_hb_build_template<\/code>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the <strong>Structure<\/strong> tab<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check the <strong>Collation<\/strong> column<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Correct value<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>utf8mb4_unicode_ci\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If the table is NOT utf8mb4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Run the following SQL query (replace table prefix if needed):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>ALTER TABLE oc_hb_build_template\nCONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4\nCOLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Repeat this for other HuntBee tables if required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u2705 This change is safe and affects only the selected table.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Database Connection Charset (Required for Reading &amp; Writing Emojis)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if the table is utf8mb4, emojis will still break if OpenCart uses a <code>utf8<\/code> database connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OpenCart 3.x uses <code>utf8<\/code> by default, which does <strong>not<\/strong> support emojis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Solution (Core File Change)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You need to update the database connection charset to <strong>utf8mb4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">File to edit<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>system\/library\/db\/mysqli.php\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Find this line (connection creation)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>$this->connection->set_charset('utf8');\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Update it to<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>$this-&gt;connection-&gt;set_charset('utf8mb4');\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Clear Cache &amp; Test<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After making the changes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clear OpenCart cache<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Re-save the template or content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test with emojis like:<code>\ud83d\ude9a \ud83d\udce6 \ud83d\udd12<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>They should now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Save correctly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Display correctly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Work in email bodies, popups, notifications, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Important Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is <strong>not a bug<\/strong> in HuntBee extensions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is a <strong>known limitation of OpenCart 3.x default database settings<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emoji support requires <strong>both<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>utf8mb4 table collation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>utf8mb4 database connection<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Need Help?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re unsure which tables to convert or need confirmation, feel free to contact support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":467,"menu_order":17,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-14685","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Emoji \/ Unicode (utf8mb4) Support in HuntBee Extensions - HuntBee Resources<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.huntbee.com\/resources\/docs\/email-template-designer-pro\/emoji-unicode-utf8mb4-support-in-huntbee-extensions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emoji \/ Unicode (utf8mb4) Support in HuntBee Extensions - HuntBee Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HuntBee extensions fully support Unicode and emoji characters (for example \ud83d\ude9a \ud83d\udce6 \ud83d\udd12).However, emoji support depends on your database configuration, not just the extension. 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