Attachment Issues

How to Fix TXT Attachments Showing as Chinese Characters in Outlook

Maira Mehtab Oct 9, 2026 871 views

Question details

Users need to resolve an issue where TXT email attachments display as unreadable Chinese characters instead of standard text.

Product: Microsoft Outlook
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Sending or receiving TXT file attachments via email in Microsoft Outlook.
Observed behavior: The text inside the attached TXT file appears as random Chinese characters due to encoding misinterpretation, despite correct regional settings.

Before you start

Before changing application settings, save a local copy of the original TXT file to ensure no data is lost during the troubleshooting process.

Solution 1Recommended

Convert the TXT File Encoding to UTF-8

Saving the text file with UTF-8 encoding ensures cross-platform compatibility and prevents character scrambling when sent via email.

Text files created in older or localized environments may use ANSI or specific local code pages. When Outlook or the recipient's system tries to read this without the proper regional context, it defaults to different character sets, often resulting in Chinese characters.

Open the original file

Locate the original TXT file on your computer and open it using a standard text editor like Notepad.

Access the Save As menu

Click on 'File' in the top-left corner of the window and select 'Save As' from the dropdown menu.

Change the encoding

At the bottom of the 'Save As' dialog box, locate the 'Encoding' dropdown menu and change it from ANSI (or another format) to 'UTF-8'.

Save and re-attach

Save the file, then attach this newly saved UTF-8 text file to your Outlook email and send it.

UTF-8 Compatibility: UTF-8 is the standard text encoding across the internet and effectively prevents random character scrambling across different operating systems.

Solution 2

Configure Outlook's Outgoing Message Encoding

Set Outlook's default encoding for outgoing messages to UTF-8 to prevent text attachments from being misread by the recipient's email client.

Solution 3

Verify Using Outlook on the Web

Test the attachment using the web version of Outlook to determine if the issue is isolated to your desktop client.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do my text files turn into Chinese characters?

This happens due to a mismatch in text encoding. When a text file saved in a specific local encoding is opened by an application that expects a different format (like UTF-8), it misinterprets the binary data, often rendering it as random Asian characters.

Will changing Outlook's encoding affect my past emails?

No, changing the outgoing message encoding to UTF-8 in Outlook's International options only applies to new emails you send moving forward. Your past emails and their attachments will remain unchanged.

How can I read an attachment that already arrived scrambled?

Save the scrambled TXT attachment to your computer, open a text editor like Notepad, go to 'File' > 'Open', select the file, and manually change the encoding dropdown at the bottom of the window to see if it correctly renders the original text.

Outlook & Email Problems