Two ways to change the encoding in Word

Due to the fact that the Microsoft Word text editor is the most popular on the market, it is the document formats that are inherent to it that can most often be found on the network. They can differ only in versions (DOCX or DOC). But even with these formats, the program may be incompatible or incompatible.

Incorrect display of text

Of course, when seemingly native formats are flatly refused to open in the program, it is very difficult to correct, or even almost impossible. But, there are times when they open, and their contents cannot be read. We are talking about those cases where instead of the text, by the way, with the structure preserved, some squiggles are inserted that cannot be "translated".

These cases are most often associated with only one thing - with incorrect text encoding. More precisely, of course, it will be said that the encoding is not incorrect, but simply different. Not perceived by the program. It is also interesting that there is no common standard for encoding. That is, it may vary depending on the region. So, having created a file, for example, in Asia, most likely opening it in Russia, you will not be able to read it.

This article will discuss directly how to change the encoding in Word. By the way, this is useful not only for correcting the above "malfunctions", but also, on the contrary, for intentional incorrect coding of a document.

Definition

Before you talk about how to change the encoding in Word, you should give a definition to this concept. Now we will try to do this in simple language, so that even a person far from this topic understands everything.

Let's go from afar. The Word file does not contain text, as is commonly believed, but a set of numbers. They are converted in all understandable characters by the program. It is for these purposes that the encoding is used.

An encoding is a numbering scheme in which a numerical value corresponds to a specific character. By the way, the encoding can contain not only a digital set, but also letters and special characters. And since each language uses different characters, the coding in different countries is different.

How to change the encoding in Word. Method one

After this phenomenon has been defined, you can go directly to how to change the encoding in Word. The first method can be implemented when opening a file in the program.

In the case when you see a set of incomprehensible characters in the opened file, this means that the program incorrectly determined the encoding of the text and, accordingly, is not able to decode it. All that needs to be done to correctly display each character is to specify the appropriate encoding for displaying the text.

Speaking about how to change the encoding in Word when opening a file, you need to do the following:

1. Click on the "File" tab (in earlier versions, this is the "MS Office" button).
2. Go to the "Options" category.
3. Click on the item "Advanced".
4. In the menu that opens, scroll to the "General" item.
5. Check the box next to "Confirm file format conversion on opening."
6. Click OK.

So, half the battle is done. Soon you will learn how to change the text encoding in Word. Now, when you open the files in the Word program, a window will appear. In it you can change the encoding of the opening text.

Follow these steps:

1. Double-click the file you want to transcode.
2. Click on the "Coded Text" item that is located in the "File Conversion" section.
3. In the window that appears, set the switch to "Other".
4. In the drop-down list next to it, define the desired encoding.
5. Click OK.

If you have chosen the correct encoding, then after all that has been done, a document with an understandable language will open. At the moment when you choose the encoding, you can see how the future file will look in the "Sample" window. By the way, if you’re thinking how to change the encoding in Word to MAC, you need to select the appropriate item from the drop-down list.

Method two: while saving the document

The essence of the second method is quite simple: open the file with incorrect encoding and save it in a suitable one. This is done as follows:

1. Click File.
2. Select "Save As."
3. In the drop-down list in the "File Type" section, select "Plain Text."
4. Click on "Save."
5. In the file conversion window, select your preferred encoding and click "OK."

Now you know two ways to change the text encoding in Word. We hope that this article has helped you in resolving the issue.