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I need to use Unicode (UTF-8) encoding charset on Excel365 with Mac OS. How can I set that in Preferences?

Sukru Alemdar 0 Reputation points
2026-04-27T11:51:55.3866667+00:00

I am using excel365 locally on Mac. I need to use Unicode (UTF-8) encoding to display character sets for Turkish properly.

When I edit a new file on the my Mac the Turkish characters are displayed properly. But when I open an external css file the Turkish characters are displayed wrong. I opened the same external csv file with Word365 locally on Mac using UTF-8 encoding (when prompted by Word) the Turkish characters are displayed correctly.

I want to do the same in Excel.

Can you help.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | MacOS
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  1. Michelle-N 16,635 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-04-27T13:25:14.4633333+00:00

    Hi @Sukru Alemdar Based on the information you provided, I understand that Turkish characters are displaying incorrectly when you open external CSV files directly in Excel for Mac, even though they appear correctly in Word 365 using UTF-8 encoding.

    I’ve tested this in my own environment and found that Excel for Mac often struggles to automatically detect the correct encoding when a CSV file is opened directly. To fix this, you can use the Power Query method, which gives you manual control over the encoding.

    Instead of double-clicking the file to open it, follow these steps:

    1. Open a blank workbook in Excel.
    2. Go to the Data tab in the top ribbon.
    3. Click on Get Data (Power Query).
    4. Select Text/CSV.
    5. Choose your external CSV file and click Get Data.
    6. In the preview window that appears, look for the File Origin dropdown menu.
    7. Select 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) (or Turkish Windows/Mac if UTF-8 isn't automatically recognized).
    8. Once the characters look correct in the preview, click Load.

    User's image

    In my testing, this method successfully preserves Turkish characters and prevents the encoding errors you're seeing. It treats the data as a proper import rather than just a "quick open," which is much more reliable for UTF-8 files.

    Please give that a try and let me know if those characters are finally behaving themselves!


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