freesabaiThai CSV that opens right in Excel
Double-click a CSV and Excel shows the Thai as garbage, or a CSV from Thai Excel turns to garbage in Google Sheets? Put the file here, check the table, and save it the way the other program reads it. In your browser; the file is not sent anywhere.
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How to use it
- Choose the CSV. The encoding and delimiter are guessed and the first 10 rows are shown as a table. If the Thai in the table is still wrong, pick the source encoding yourself.
- Pick where you will open it: Excel (recommended), older Excel, or Google Sheets.
- Press "Save the file", then double-click the new file in Excel.
Why Thai CSV turns to garbage in Excel
A CSV does not say how its letters are stored, so Excel on Windows assumes the computer's own encoding, and a UTF-8 file from the web or Google Sheets comes out as garbage. A BOM (three bytes at the start) tells Excel the file is UTF-8. The other way round, a CSV saved by Thai Excel is usually TIS-620, which other programs read as garbage: it needs converting to UTF-8.
Good to know
- When the delimiter stays the same the content is not touched; only the way letters are stored changes. The BOM is added once: a file that already has one does not get two.
- When you change the delimiter the file is written again, and fields that hold the delimiter, a quote or a line break are quoted properly. With Tab the file is named .txt, which Excel opens as a table.
- The tool checks that every row has as many fields as the first and says which rows do not, but does not change your data.
- TIS-620 holds only Thai and English: with emoji or other scripts it asks first whether to write ? instead or cancel.
- Files up to 100 MB, CSV only (an .xlsx file is not a CSV).
Your files stay on your device
Everything runs in your browser. The file you open is not sent to freesabai's server or anyone else's, and nothing is kept in the browser: close the page and it is gone. The site only counts that this page was opened and how many times a result was saved (never the file name or content; you can turn counting off at the bottom of the site, see the privacy policy).
Report a problem or suggest an idea
Found a CSV this cannot fix? Tell us on the feedback page; no sign-up needed (do not attach files with personal data).
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Questions and answers
Thai CSV opens in Excel as strange characters, how to fix?
Open the file here, choose Excel and save. A UTF-8 BOM is added so Excel knows the file is UTF-8; double-click the new file and the Thai reads right.
CSV from Thai Excel shows garbage in Google Sheets
Thai Excel usually saves CSV as TIS-620. Open the file here and choose Google Sheets or other programs to get a UTF-8 file that Google Sheets reads correctly.
All the data ends up in one column when I open the CSV
The delimiter does not match what your Excel expects; some set-ups use ; instead of ,. Pick that delimiter for saving and check the table preview first.
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