Error : Package inputenc Error: Keyboard character used is undefined

Question

I was adding references to my .bib file and everything was just working fine. I came acroos a document http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/business/resits/postgrad/InternationalSupplyChainMgmtIKEACaseStudy.pdf which is causing me the problem.

I am using JabRef to maintain my bib file. I did enter the document as a techreport. I copied the title Written Examination Stimulus Material Case Study – IKEA in the title section and Industry supply chain management system When I tried to execute my main.tex file, I get the error ! Package inputenc Error: Keyboard character used is undefined. Well I did not understand what was happening, so I deleted the entry from JabRef and tried to re-execute removing the citation from .tex doc. But strange thing is I still get the error:

    ! Package inputenc Error: Keyboard character used is undefined
(inputenc)                in inputencoding `utf8'.

See the inputenc package documentation for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...                                              

l.206 \end
          {document}
You need to provide a definition with \DeclareInputText 
or \DeclareInputMath before using this key.


Overfull \hbox (17.45633pt too wide) in paragraph at lines 206--206
[]\OT1/lmr/m/it/12 Written Ex-am-i-na-tion Stim-u-lus Ma-te-rial Case Study  IK
EA\OT1/lmr/m/n/12 . Case Study BSB20123-
 []

Package atveryend Info: Empty hook `BeforeClearDocument' on input line 206.
[26

]
Package atveryend Info: Empty hook `AfterLastShipout' on input line 206.

("C:\path\main.aux")
Package atveryend Info: Executing hook `AtVeryEndDocument' on input line 206.
Package atveryend Info: Executing hook `AtEndAfterFileList' on input line 206.
Package rerunfilecheck Info: File `main.out' has not changed.
(rerunfilecheck)             Checksum: 14F03B1DF8016DE367A0F2F217A228DD;1969.

One observation in this error log is that, even though I removed the citation and entry from my .bib file it saying that :

Overfull \hbox (17.45633pt too wide) in paragraph at lines 206--206
    []\OT1/lmr/m/it/12 Written Ex-am-i-na-tion Stim-u-lus Ma-te-rial Case Study  IK
    EA\OT1/lmr/m/n/12 . Case Study BSB20123-
     []

But this title does not exist either in my .tex or my .bib. Where is it reading this title from and what could be the possible solution to fix this?

I am using \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} package.

Thanks

Answer 1

This is not a direct answer to your question, more a means of tracking down the problem. I have also had problems with undefined Unicode characters, so I add the following to my preambles:

\usepackage{newunicodechar} 
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{FFFD}{?????}

The character FFFD is the Unicode replacement character. It enables a document to compile to completion and substitutes any undefined Unicode character with `?????' – which is fairly easy to track down.

Once you've established which character is causing the problem, you can define a new Unicode character (for example) as follows:

\newunicodechar{–}{--}