CSV export – issue with “non-standard” characters exporting incorrectly

[Greg H]

Hello,

When using CSV export, “non-standard” characters do not export as expected .... this website illustrates the "expected" and the "actual" which I am encountering - https://www.i18nqa.com/debug/utf8-debug.html 

Does anyone know if there is a solution to this issue? 

Thanks,

Greg

[Greg H]

I discovered the explanation for the problem ...... I was using Excel and it has a rather complicated process for properly opening UTF-8 encoded CSV files .... see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/opening-utf-8-encoded-csv-in-excel-that-appears-ok/94e1a881-b184-449d-8a59-27997d5e97ef for the method. I tried opening the file with LibreOffice in a standard manner and it appropriate prompted with options for opening, providing a much smoother process.

[Frederick Yocum]

@Greg Thanks for the fix! This is an annoyance to which I have never pursued the solution. Here is the complicated process outlined for those who don’t run LibreOffice.

Excel sometimes has trouble recognizing the encoding of a CSV file when you open it directly. However, when you use the "Import Data" feature, Excel lets you specify that the file is UTF-8 encoded, which is why it looks correct when you import it this way.

To ensure Excel always opens CSV files with the correct characters, follow these steps:

1. *Open Excel first*, don't double-click the CSV file.
2. Go to the *Data* tab on the ribbon.
3. Click *From Text/CSV*.
4. Select your CSV file and click *Import*.
5. In the preview window, if it looks incorrect, select *65001: Unicode (UTF-8)* from the dropdown menu for the file origin.
6. Click *Load*.