Manage Accented and Special Characters

MyPass uses Excel CSV files for Bulk uploading personnel to the MyPass platform. You can bulk upload to MyPass without error (without getting unreadable characters) using Excel by following the simple steps. 

 

Definition: Accented Characters

Accented characters typically involve diacritical marks added to letters to alter their pronunciation or to distinguish between words that would otherwise be spelled identically. Here are some common types of accented characters in various languages:

  1. Acute Accent (´):
    • Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and others.
    • Examples
      • Spanish: é in café (coffee)
      • French: é in école (school)
      • Portuguese: é in até (until)
  2. Grave Accent (`):
    • Languages: French, Italian, Greek, and others.
    • Examples
      • French: è in très (very)
      • Italian: è in caffè (coffee)
  3. Circumflex (ˆ):
    • Languages: French, Portuguese, Romanian, and others.
    • Examples
      • French: ê in forêt (forest)
      • Portuguese: â in pão (bread
  4. Tilde (˜):
    • Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Estonian, and others.
    • Examples
      • Spanish: ñ in año (year)
      • Portuguese: ã in pão (bread
  5. Umlaut (¨) / Diaeresis:
    • Languages: German, Spanish, French, and others.
    • Examples
      • German: ü in über (over)
      • Spanish: ü in pingüino (penguin
  6. Cedilla (¸):
    • Languages: French, Portuguese, Turkish, and others.
    • Examples
      • French: ç in façade (front)
      • Portuguese: ç in ação (action)

Definition: Special Characters

Special characters include a variety of symbols that are not part of the standard alphabet but are essential in written communication for different purposes, such as punctuation, mathematical operations, and formatting. Here are some examples:

  1. Inverted Punctuation (¿, ¡):
    • Languages: Spanish
    • Examples
      • ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?)
      • ¡Qué sorpresa! (What a surprise!)
  2. Quotation Marks:
    • Types:
      • English: " " (double quotes), ' ' (single quotes)
      • French: « » (guillemets)
    • Examples
      • English: "Hello," he said.
      • French: « Bonjour », dit-il.
  3. Currency Symbols:
    • Examples
      • $ for US dollars
      • for euros
      • ¥ for Japanese yen
  4. Mathematical Symbols:
    • Examples
      • + (plus)
      • - (minus)
      • = (equals)
      • ÷ (division)
  5. Ampersand (&):
    • Usage: Represents the word "and"
    • Examples: Salt & Pepper
  6. At Symbol (@):

 

How to View and Manage Accented and Special Characters in Excel

To view and correctly display accented or special characters in Excel, you need to ensure that the data is imported or entered correctly and that the font and encoding settings support these characters. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Importing Data with Accented or Special Characters in Excel

  1. Open Excel:
    • Launch Excel and open a new workbook.
  2. Navigate to Import Function:
    • Click on the Data tab in the ribbon at the top.
    • Select Get Data > From File > From Text/CSV.

  1. Choose the File:
    • In the file explorer window that opens, locate your CSV or TXT file.
    • Select the file and click Import.
  2. File Import Options:
    • The Text Import Wizard will open. Here, you can configure how Excel should read your file.
    • File Origin: Set this to 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) to ensure proper handling of accented characters.
    • Delimiter: Choose the correct delimiter that separates your data fields (e.g., Comma for CSV files, Tab for TXT files).
  3. Preview and Load Data:
    • You will see a preview of how your data will look in Excel. Check this preview to ensure that accented and special characters are displayed correctly.
    • Click Load to import the data into Excel.

2. Exporting Data with Accented or Special Characters in Excel

When exporting data from Excel to ensure that accented or special characters are preserved:

  1. Save As:
    • Go to File > Save As.
    • Choose the location where you want to save the file.
  2. Choose the Right Format:
    • For CSV files, select CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) to ensure that UTF-8 encoding is used.
    • For text files, select Unicode Text (*.txt) to preserve special characters.

By following these steps, you can ensure that accented and special characters are correctly displayed and managed in Excel. If you encounter any issues, double-check the encoding settings during import and export, and ensure that your system's language and regional settings are correctly configured.

 

Related to

Updated

Was this article helpful?

0 out of 0 found this helpful

Have more questions? Submit a request

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.