How to Encode an Excel File to UTF-8 or UTF-16
Updated: 12/21/2012
Why should I encode my excel file to UTF-8 or UTF-16?
Great question! There are many different ways that various programs encode their files, and depending on their encoding you can get different results when uploading them to online software. If you’re using special characters such as Kanji, or an umlaut, you’ll notice that not all software or programs support them.
Encoding your excel files into a UTF-8 or UTF-16 format can really help to make sure anything you upload into SurveyGizmo can be read and displayed properly. Email Campaigns, and certain actions (such as Login Actions) have the ability to upload CSV files to them, but in order to display special characters correctly, they only support UTF-8 and UTF-16 encoding.
How to Encode your Excel Files
Below are videos and step by step instructions on how to go about encoding your excel files to UTF-8 and UTF-16. As each version of excel is different, we’ve provided basic instructions for several types.
Excel Versions 1999 to 2010
Quick Step by Step Video: UTf-8 Encoding Video
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Step 1: Go to your Excel Document Step 2: Click on File (or the Colorful circle icon, depending on the version of Excel you have) |
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| Step 3: Choose ‘Save As’ and choose the format of the Excel file you’d like to use |
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Step 4: Name your file, and update your file path as needed Step 5: Click on Tools, then choose ‘Web options’ |
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Step 6: Go to the ‘Encoding‘ tab Step 7: In the dropdown for ‘Save this document as:’ choose ‘Unicode (UTF-8)’ Step 8: Click Ok Step 9: Click Save! |
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For Versions of Office 2011 and forward
Office 2011 and going forward only provide a UTF-16 formatting option. This will export your data as .txt, but as long as it’s tab separated, our login actions will be able to detect it’s set up properly.
Quick Step by Step Video UTF-16 Encoding for 2011 Excel
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Step 1: Go to your Excel Document Step 2: Click on ‘File’ Step 3: Choose ‘Save As’ |
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Step 4: Name your file, and update your file path as needed Step 5: Click on the dropdown menu next to ‘Format’ Step 6: Choose ‘UTF-16 Unicode Text’ Step 7: Click ‘Save’ |
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You may see a warning message (this is because you’re converting the file to UTF-16). Step 8: Click ‘Continue‘ |
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Open Office.org
If you do not have access to Excel, you can download the free open-source office software suite called “OpenOffice”. To learn more, please visit: http://www.openoffice.org
Quick Step by Step Video: UTF-8 Open Office Video
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Step 1: Open up OpenOffice, and open your excel document Step 2: Click on ‘File’ in the upper left hand corner of your tool bar Step 3: Choose ‘Save As’ |
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Step 4: Name your file, and update your file path as needed Step 5: Save your ‘Type’ as CSV, and then check the box for ‘Edit Filter Settings’ Step 6: Click Save |
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It will take a moment but an “Export of text files” window will show up with more options Step 7: Next to Character Set, choose ‘Unicode (UTF-8)‘ Step 8: Click OK, and you’re done! |
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