# How to fix broken characters in a contacts CSV file

Source: https://exportcontacts.com/guides/fix-broken-characters-contacts-csv/
Updated: 2026-11-14 · By the Contaxo team

> Letters like **é** or **ı** mean a UTF-8 file was opened with the wrong encoding; the data is fine. In Excel, don't double-click the file: use **Data › From Text/CSV** and choose **65001: Unicode (UTF-8)**. **???** means the letters were lost when the file was saved; go back to the original file. When you save from Excel, choose **CSV UTF-8**, or use .xlsx, which keeps every alphabet.

## What you need

- Microsoft Excel (Windows or Mac), Google Sheets or Numbers
- The original contacts file

## Open a UTF-8 contacts CSV in Excel correctly

1. **Start from an empty workbook.** Open Excel with a blank workbook instead of double-clicking the CSV.
2. **Use From Text/CSV.** Go to **Data › Get Data › From File › From Text/CSV** (or **Data › From Text/CSV**) and choose the file.
3. **Set the file origin.** In the preview, set **File Origin** to **65001: Unicode (UTF-8)** and **Delimiter** to **Comma**. The names in the preview should now look right.
4. **Load.** Click **Load**. To keep phone numbers exactly as written, click **Transform Data** first and set the phone columns to **Text**.

## Which problem do you have?

| What you see | What it means | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `José`, `Çağrı`, `Иван` | A UTF-8 file read with the wrong encoding. The data is fine. | Open with **From Text/CSV** and **UTF-8** |
| `Jos?`, `???`, empty boxes | The letters were removed when the file was saved. | Export again from the original and save as **CSV UTF-8** |
| All data in column A | Your Excel uses semicolons as the list separator. | **From Text/CSV**, delimiter **Comma** |
| `+90 532…` became `9.05E+11`, leading 0 gone | Excel turned phone numbers into numbers. | Set phone columns to **Text** when importing |

## Saving a CSV from Excel without breaking it

When you choose **File › Save As**, pick **CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (\*.csv)**. The plain **CSV (Comma delimited)** option saves in an older encoding and can turn non-English letters into question marks. If the file is going to a phone or another person, saving as **Excel Workbook (.xlsx)** is the safest choice.

## Importing into Google Contacts or a CRM

Google Contacts, Outlook and most CRMs expect UTF-8. If names arrive broken, the CSV was saved in another encoding: fix it in Excel as above, save as **CSV UTF-8**, delete the broken contacts and import again.

## The easy way from your phone

If the contacts are on your phone, export them with **Contaxo** to [Excel (.xlsx)](https://exportcontacts.com/to-excel/): every alphabet opens correctly in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets. For CRMs and mailing tools, Contaxo's [CSV export](https://exportcontacts.com/to-csv/) is UTF-8 with a header row; open it in Excel with **From Text/CSV** as above.

Importing in the other direction, [Contaxo's import](https://exportcontacts.com/import/) reads files with accents and non-Latin letters and shows every contact before anything is saved.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why does Excel break the characters?

Contact exports from Google, iCloud and most apps are UTF-8. When you double-click a CSV, Excel often reads it with your computer's older regional encoding instead, so every letter outside basic English is shown as two or three wrong characters.

### Google Sheets and Numbers show the file correctly. Why?

They read CSV files as UTF-8 by default. Opening the file there, then downloading it as .xlsx, is another easy fix.

### The names show ??? or empty boxes. Can I get them back?

Not from that file. Question marks mean the file was saved in an encoding that has no room for those letters, so they were replaced. Export the contacts again from the original source and save as **CSV UTF-8** or .xlsx.

### Does this happen with Excel files exported by Contaxo?

No. An [.xlsx file](https://exportcontacts.com/to-excel/) stores every alphabet as it is, so names in Turkish, Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic or any other script open correctly in Excel without import settings.

### Contacts imported to my phone have broken names

The file was probably saved in an old encoding. Open it in Excel as above, save it as **CSV UTF-8** or .xlsx, and import it again. Contaxo shows every contact before you save, so you can check the names first.

## Related

- [How to export your contacts to a CSV file](https://exportcontacts.com/to-csv/)
- [How to export your contacts to Excel](https://exportcontacts.com/to-excel/)
- [How to import contacts from Excel, CSV or vCard](https://exportcontacts.com/import/)
- [How to export Google Contacts to Excel](https://exportcontacts.com/guides/export-google-contacts-to-excel/)

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