I have exactly the same problem. Running on Windows 7 Pro SP1 Using gvim 7.3.46 Part of my _vimrc:: setglobal fileencoding=utf-8 "------------------------------------------------------------------------------ " Vundle - plugin management "------------------------------------------------------------------------------ set nocompatible " be iMproved filetype off " required! set rtp+=~/.vim/bundle/vundle/ call vundle#rc() " let Vundle manage Vundle " required! Bundle 'gmarik/vundle' " My Bundles here: " " original repos on github Bundle 'UltiSnips' Bundle 'mattn/calendar-vim' Bundle 'rosenfeld/conque-term' Bundle 'The-NERD-Commenter' Bundle 'vimwiki' Bundle 'surround.vim' Bundle 'brymck/nekotako' Bundle 'VST' Bundle 'vcscommand.vim' Bundle 'Solarized' Bundle 'taglist.vim' Bundle 'Python-mode-klen' Bundle 'unimpaired.vim' Bundle 'ctrlp.vim' filetype plugin indent on " required! " " Brief help " :BundleList - list configured bundles " :BundleInstall(!) - install(update) bundles " :BundleSearch(!) foo - search(or refresh cache first) for foo " :BundleClean(!) - confirm(or auto-approve) removal of unused bundles " " see :h vundle for more details or wiki for FAQ " NOTE: comments after Bundle command are not allowed.. "------------------------------------------------------------------------------ " General "------------------------------------------------------------------------------ source $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim " Some basic MS keybindings filetype plugin on " Enable filetype plugin filetype indent on " Enable indent pluing ===end of _vimrc snippet ==================== When trying to use any of snippets (like "def" in python file), it prints out: ===start error printout=== An error occured. This is either a bug in UltiSnips or a bug in a snippet definition. If you think this is a bug, please report it to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ultisnips/+filebug. Following is the full stack trace: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\__init__.py", line 23, in wrapper return f(self, *args, **kwds) File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\__init__.py", line 536, in expand if not self._try_expand(): File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\__init__.py", line 866, in _try_expand self._do_snippet(snippet, before, after) File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\__init__.py", line 848, in _do_snippet self._jump() File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\__init__.py", line 731, in _jump _vim.select(self._ctab.start, self._ctab.end) File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\_vim.py", line 119, in select _unmap_select_mode_mapping() File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\_vim.py", line 207, in _unmap_select_mode_mapping all_maps = list(filter(len, eval(r"_tmp_smaps").splitlines())) File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\_vim.py", line 101, in eval return as_unicode(rv) File "C:\Users\jan.vlcinsky\.vim\bundle\UltiSnips\plugin\UltiSnips\compatibility.py", line 69, in as_unicode return s.decode("utf-8") File "C:\Python27\Lib\encodings\utf_8.py", line 16, in decode return codecs.utf_8_decode(input, errors, True) UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xa0 in position 4875: invalid start byte ===end of error printout I wiped out few times the dir of UltiSnips and reinstalled, but with no change. If I commented out loading mswin.vim and placed the Bundle UtliSnips to the top of loaded bundles, it worked, but 1) living without mswin.vim is not so easy 2) anyway, I got some other problems anyway Conclusion ========= I do not consider this issue to be invalid. The features offered by UltiSnips are realy nice (and I like Python), but till it is not reliable, I do not dare to use it daily. I guess, there is some general issue with character encoding (what is never easy stuff in Python 2.x)