Text Editors (Save .txt as UTF-8)

This page explains how to ensure that a plain text (.txt) file is saved in an appropriate Unicode formatting. Saving a plain text document file as Unicode will allow you to use the text across multiple platforms and systems with minimal formatting changes. This is especially important if the text will be placed on the Web, either within the document or included in a Web page.

Note: Before you can use any of these packages, all the proper keyboards and fonts must be installed and activated for each script.

Page Content

  1. Switch Keyboards or Use Codes
  2. Save as Unicode
  3. Notepad (Win)
  4. Text Edit (Mac)
  5. Microsoft Office New Page

Switch Keyboards or Use Codes

  1. Open a blank file.
  2. Switch your keyboards to the appropriate script or input appropriate symbol codes.
  3. Input text as needed.

Notepad

Notepad, the free text editor on Windows, saves in ANSI Latin encoding by default. To ensure that you are saving a Unicode .txt file, do the following:

  1. Go to the File then Save or Save As… menu.
  2. In the Encoding menu, change the value from ANSI to UTF-8 or other appropriate Unicode value.

Text Edit

Text Edit, the free text editor on the Mac, saves in Unicode by default, but to ensure that you are saving a Unicode .txt file, do the following:

  1. Text Edit saves as RTF (Rich Text) by default and includes formatting and font options. To convert your file to true plain text (.txt), go to the Format menu and select Make Plain Text. The formatting options will disappear and the text will likely change appearance.
  2. When saving a file (File : Save), make sure the Plain Text Encoding menu is set to Unicode (UTF-8) or whatever encoding you want.
    Note: If you don’t see this menu, your file is probably set to be Rich Text (RTF).
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