How to Fix CSV and TSV File Encoding Issues in Excel
Question details
Users need a way to properly display international characters when opening CSV or TSV data files in Microsoft Excel.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel
- Device & OS
- Windows
- Scenario
- Importing or opening plain text datasets (CSV/TSV) containing international or special characters in Excel.
- Observed behavior
- Excel displays international characters incorrectly (as garbled text or mojibake), even though the characters appear correctly when viewed in text editors like Notepad++.
Make sure you know the original language or origin of your CSV or TSV file to accurately identify the best encoding format to use.
Change File Encoding to UTF-8 via Windows Notepad
By re-saving your CSV or TSV file with UTF-8 encoding in Windows Notepad, you can ensure that Excel natively recognizes and correctly displays international characters.
Excel relies on your system's default encoding (usually ANSI) when double-clicking a CSV or TSV file. If your data contains international characters outside this default character set, they will fail to render properly.
Using a basic text editor like Windows Notepad allows you to force the file into a universally accepted encoding standard, such as UTF-8, before handing it off to Excel.
Right-click your CSV or TSV file, select 'Open with', and choose 'Notepad' from the list of applications.
Once the file is open and displaying correctly in Notepad, click on the 'File' menu in the top left corner and select 'Save As'.
At the bottom of the Save As dialog box, locate the 'Encoding' drop-down menu. Click it and select 'UTF-8' (or 'UTF-8 with BOM').
Save the file (you can overwrite the original or save it as a new copy). Finally, launch Excel and open the newly saved file to view the characters correctly.
Easily Import CSV Files with UTF-8 Encoding in WPS Office
WPS Spreadsheet features a powerful built-in Text Import Wizard that allows you to manually designate file encoding (like UTF-8) during the import process, completely bypassing the need for third-party text editors.
- 1. Launch WPS Spreadsheet: Open WPS Office and create a new blank Spreadsheet, then navigate to the 'Data' tab on the top ribbon.
- 2. Start Data Import: Click on 'Import Data' and select the 'Import Data' option again from the drop-down to launch the wizard, then browse for your CSV or TSV file.
- 3. Choose UTF-8 Encoding: In the Text Import Wizard, select 'Delimited'. Under the 'File origin' drop-down menu, scroll to find and select 'UTF-8' so the preview window correctly displays your international characters.
- 4. Finish the Import: Set your column delimiters (such as Comma or Tab) in the next step, click 'Next', and then 'Finish' to instantly populate your spreadsheet with clean data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Excel mess up international characters in CSV files?
By default, Excel opens CSV and TSV files using the Windows system's default ANSI encoding instead of UTF-8. If the file contains characters outside of your system's standard code page, Excel cannot translate them properly and displays garbled text instead.
Can I use Notepad++ to change the file encoding instead of Windows Notepad?
Yes. Open your CSV or TSV file in Notepad++, click on the 'Encoding' menu at the top, select 'Convert to UTF-8' (or 'Convert to UTF-8-BOM'), and save the file. When you open the file in Excel afterwards, the characters will display correctly.
What is the difference between a CSV and a TSV file?
Both are plain text files used to store tabular data. A CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file uses commas to separate data fields, whereas a TSV (Tab-Separated Values) file uses tab spaces. Both formats are susceptible to the same encoding rendering issues when opened directly in Excel.
