Unicode is an international standard that allows software programs such as Microsoft Excel to display characters from foreign alphabets such as Chinese or Cyrillic, which can be very helpful if you have international clients. The standard includes several data file formats for storing Unicode characters, the most popular being UTF-8. In most cases Excel automatically recognizes a UTF-8 file when you try to open it, but in other cases you have to manually change the settings when opening the file.
Launch Excel and select "Open Other Workbooks" from the opening screen. If you are already in Excel, select the "File" menu, and then choose "Open."
Select "Computer," and then click "Browse." Navigate to the location of the UTF file, and then change the file type option to "All Files."
Select the UTF file, and then click "Open" to launch the Text Import Wizard.
Change the "File Origin" setting to "65001: Unicode (UTF-8)."
Follow the directions of the wizard to define your text delimiters or set column widths. The wizard displays a small preview screen showing the first rows in your table to help your choose the correct options. You can also set the data format for each column and tell Excel to leave out some columns.
Click "Finish" to open the UTF-8 file in Excel.
- Information in this article applies to Microsoft Excel 2013. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions or products.
- Photos.com/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images