Data Import & Export

How to Fix Chinese Characters Changing When Pasted into Excel

Algirdas Jasaitis Oct 10, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user needs to prevent Chinese text from changing into unexpected or corrupted characters after being pasted into Excel.

How to Fix Chinese Characters Changing When Pasted into Excel

Product: Excel
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Copying Chinese text from an external source or application and pasting it into an Excel spreadsheet.
Observed behavior: The original Chinese characters transform into unreadable symbols, question marks, or unexpected text strings immediately after pasting.

Before you start

Ensure that the source application is currently displaying the Chinese characters correctly before copying, and verify that your system has the appropriate Asian language packs installed.

Solution 1Recommended

Use Paste Special with Unicode Text

Using the Paste Special feature to paste as Unicode Text ensures that Excel recognizes and preserves the original character encoding.

When standard pasting is used, Excel attempts to match the source formatting, which can sometimes misinterpret foreign language characters. Forcing Excel to accept the text as Unicode bypasses this formatting conflict.

Copy the source text

Highlight the Chinese characters in your source document or web browser and press Ctrl+C to copy them.

Access Paste Special in Excel

Right-click the destination cell in your Excel spreadsheet, or go to the Home tab on the ribbon, click the arrow below the Paste button, and select 'Paste Special'.

Select Unicode Text

In the Paste Special dialog box, select 'Unicode Text' from the list of options and click OK.

Encoding Preserved: Your Chinese characters should now appear exactly as they did in the source document without any corrupted symbols.

Solution 2

Strip Formatting Using Notepad

Pasting the text into Notepad first will strip away any hidden formatting or conflicting metadata from the source application.

Manage Multilingual Data Seamlessly

Paste Multilingual Text Without Errors in WPS Spreadsheet

WPS Office provides robust, built-in encoding support that naturally handles complex character sets. Prevent data corruption when working with Chinese, Japanese, or Korean text by using WPS Spreadsheet.

1. Install WPS Office: Download and install WPS Office, then open a new workbook in WPS Spreadsheet.
2. Copy your text: Highlight and copy the Chinese characters from your original source.
3. Paste as Unformatted Text: Right-click the target cell in WPS Spreadsheet, select 'Paste Special', and choose 'Unformatted Text' to preserve the characters perfectly.

Advanced Unicode support to prevent character corruption during data import.Fully compatible with Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlsx, .csv) file formats.Lightweight, fast, and runs smoothly on various operating systems.Free to use with a familiar, easy-to-navigate interface.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do Chinese characters turn into question marks in Excel?

This happens due to an encoding mismatch. If Excel tries to paste the text using standard ANSI encoding instead of Unicode, it cannot recognize the complex characters and replaces them with question marks or random symbols.

Can I fix corrupted characters after they have already been pasted and saved?

Usually, no. Once the file is saved with corrupted characters (Mojibake), the original character data is lost. You will need to clear the cells and paste the text again using the Paste Special > Unicode Text method.

Does changing my system locale help with pasting issues?

Sometimes. If you frequently work with Chinese text, going to your computer's Control Panel > Region > Administrative settings and changing the 'Language for non-Unicode programs' to Chinese can help prevent systemic encoding conflicts.

Excel & Data Problems