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Fix Arabic Characters Appearing as Question Marks in Excel CSV Files
Question details
The user needs to correct Arabic text that displays as question marks or gibberish when opening CSV files in Excel.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Opening or importing a CSV file containing Arabic or other Unicode text into Excel.
- Observed behavior
- Arabic characters become corrupted and appear as question marks or garbled text due to incorrect character encoding.
Ensure you have the original, unedited CSV file exported from the source system; re-saving an already corrupted file in Excel might permanently overwrite the text and make it unrecoverable.
Use Excel's Data Import Wizard with UTF-8 Encoding
Instead of opening the CSV directly, importing the data allows you to manually specify the character encoding so Arabic text is read properly.
When you double-click a CSV file, Excel often uses the system's default legacy encoding (like ANSI), which does not support Arabic characters, resulting in question marks. Using the Import Data feature forces Excel to read the file correctly.
Launch Microsoft Excel and open a new, blank spreadsheet.
Click on the **Data** tab on the Excel ribbon, then select **From Text/CSV** (or **From Text** in older versions).
Locate the CSV file containing the Arabic text on your computer and click **Import**.
In the preview window, locate the **File Origin** dropdown menu and change it to **65001: Unicode (UTF-8)**.
Verify that the Arabic characters now display correctly in the preview, then click **Load** to import the data into your spreadsheet.
Save the File as UTF-8 with BOM using a Text Editor
If you prefer to double-click and open CSV files directly, converting the file to 'UTF-8 with BOM' adds a hidden marker that automatically tells Excel to use the correct encoding.
Open and Manage CSV Files Easily with WPS Spreadsheet
WPS Spreadsheet provides a streamlined text import wizard that makes it incredibly simple to select the correct UTF-8 encoding, ensuring your Arabic text always displays perfectly without any corrupted characters.
- 1. Create a new spreadsheet: Open WPS Spreadsheet and create a new blank workbook.
- 2. Access the import tool: Go to the **Data** tab and select **Import Data**, then click on **Import External Data**.
- 3. Configure the wizard: Select your CSV file to open the Text Import Wizard. Choose **Delimited** and ensure the file origin is set to **UTF-8**.
- 4. Finish the import: Pick your delimiter (like Comma) and click **Finish** to display your Arabic data flawlessly on the spreadsheet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do Arabic characters turn into question marks in CSV files?
This happens because standard CSV files do not inherently store character encoding information. By default, Excel applies the system's standard legacy encoding (such as ANSI), which cannot interpret Unicode characters like Arabic, thereby replacing them with question marks or gibberish.
Can I set Excel to always open CSVs in UTF-8 automatically?
Yes, in newer versions of Excel (such as Microsoft 365), you can go to File > Options > Data and enable 'Default Data Conversions' under the legacy data import settings. This allows Excel to process text files using UTF-8 automatically without requiring the import wizard every time.
What does 'UTF-8 with BOM' mean?
BOM stands for Byte Order Mark. It is a hidden, invisible signature placed at the very beginning of a text file. It explicitly tells applications like Excel that the file is encoded in UTF-8, ensuring that non-Latin characters render correctly when the file is opened directly.
