Create UTF-8 CSV files from an Excel spreadsheet containing Asian Characters

1. In Microsoft Excel, open the *.xlsx file.

2. Select Menu | Save As.

3. Enter any name for your file.

4. Under "Save as type," select Unicode Text.

5. Click Save.

6. Open your saved file in Microsoft Notepad.

7. Replace all tab characters with commas (",")
 

• Select a tab character (select and copy the space between two-column headers)

• Open the "Find and Replace" window (Press Ctrl+H) and replace all tab characters with comma.

8. Click Save As.

9. Name the file, and change the Encoding: to UTF-8.

10. Change the file extension from "*.txt" to "*.csv".

11. Click Save

12. Open the .csv file in Excel to view your data.

Do note to re-save your file in Excel. Saving in Excel causes these encoding changes to be automatically reset on save.

Manually set and save file encoding via Notepad:

1. Locate your file.

2. Right-click the file | select Open With | Notepad.

3. Select File | Save As.

4. Navigate to the folder where you want to save your file, select Save as Type: All Files.

5. Enter a name for your file and append .csv to the end of the file name.

6. Select UTF-8 encoding.

7. Click Save.

8. Open the newly created file in Excel to view your data.
 

Select proper encoding when using the Import Wizard or Apex Data Loader:

If you're using the Import Wizard, make sure that you choose the right encoding option "Unicode (UTF-8)" on the "Upload the file" step.