Import UTF-8 CSV in Excel without garbled characters
These are the steps using Power Query for the Windows desktop version of Excel. Double-clicking a UTF-8 CSV without BOM may result in garbled characters, so check the encoding with [From Text or CSV].
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Who this guide is for and what to prepare
- People whose Japanese CSV has garbled characters
What you need
- Prepare a copy without changing the original CSV
- Identify the delimiter and the columns whose leading zeros must be preserved
Open the import screen from an empty workbook
Instead of double-clicking the CSV, open a blank workbook in Excel, select [Data] > [Get Data] > [From File] > [From Text or CSV] and specify sample.csv. The official article covers the Windows version of Microsoft 365, 2024/2021/2019/2016.
- Open a blank workbook
- Open Get Data
- Select the CSV
Check character code and delimiter
In the preview, choose "65001: Unicode (UTF-8)" under File Origin and set Delimiter to Comma. In the practice CSV, confirm that "社員番号,氏名,部署" (Employee ID, Name, Department) becomes three columns and that the Japanese headings and "サンプルA" (Sample A) display correctly.
- Choose UTF-8 in File Origin
- Set the delimiter to Comma
- Check the Japanese text and column split
Set column types and load the data
If the employee ID "00123" is automatically converted to a number, its leading zero is removed. Select [Transform Data]. If Power Query created a [Changed Type] step under [Applied Steps] on the right, delete that step to restore the original text value. Select the target column, set its data type to [Text], and then choose [Close & Load]. Converting 123 back to text after it has become a number will not restore the lost zero.
If [Do not detect data types] is available in the preview's data type detection setting, select it before importing to treat every column as text. When the sample employee IDs remain five digits—00123, 00124, and 00125—and the Japanese sample names display correctly, you can apply the same import settings to the actual data.
- Open Power Query Editor with [Transform Data]
- Delete the automatically added [Changed Type] step and confirm that 00123 is restored
- Set the employee ID column to [Text] and select [Close & Load]
Undo an incorrect import
Delete only the newly created import sheet for practice and re-import it with the correct character code and column type. Do not delete existing sheets that contain other tables or calculation formulas. The original CSV will not be changed just by importing it. If you no longer need the connection, go to [Data] > [Queries and Connections], right-click the target query, and then [Delete].
- Delete the import sheet
- Remove unnecessary queries
- Re-import from original CSV
Limitations and requirements
- If you overwrite and save CSV, you may lose formatting and leading zeros.
Frequently asked questions
Even if you select UTF-8, it will remain in one column.
Change the delimiter to a comma. For tab delimited, select tabs.
Is the screen the same in the web version of Excel?
This article is for Windows desktop versions. Since the web version has different functions, open it on the desktop app and import it.
Official sources and verification date
Sources checked: . Check the official sources below for changes to supported systems, plans and menus.