When importing bankstatement the local specific characters in the Description field, such as þ,æ,ö,í,á etc in Icelandic language, come through as � in desktop edition.
I have Manager set to Icelandic language and also the OS (Windows10) is set to Icelandic language and the CSV file in Excel had the letters showing correct before import.
I didn’t seem to find any solution in the forum/guides and maybe this is just some minor adjustment I am overseeing ?
This sounds like a font coding issue in Excel rather than something in Manager. Will Manager normally accept these characters if they are typed into a receipt or payment form directly?
Yes Manager accepts these characters when typed into a receipt or payment form directly.
I had found a kind of a solution which is to do a Batch Update for the Description, using the same text from Excel as earlier used to import, and then it comes through correctly. I myself can use this approach, although it’s a little bit of a chore, but for clients using the import feature I think this added step to get the characters correct can add too much complexity to the process of importing as constructing the records correctly in Excel and then save as CSV and import into Manager is already maybe quite a mouthful for some users
The fact that Manager accepts the characters directly proves it is not a Manager issue. You have something going on with your fonts in Excel. Remember, things that appear the same way on screen in Excel can actually be different.
Can you export your bank statements from your bank in anything besides CSV format? That is always problematic because there are no standards.
Bank statements can be saved as Excel, XML and TXT and I usually use Excel format.
Still if a record is manually entered in a clean sheet in Excel file, without using any CSV file from the bank, and then saved as CSV (Comma Delimited), still the Icelandic characters don’t come through. Is there maybe some other format than CSV (Comma delimited) in Excel which can be used ?
These are the options which Microsoft offers in Excel
I will look into this if it is a font coding issue in Excel and only one option comes to mind which is maybe to use a formula like SUBSTITUTE and replace rogue characters with Ascii code…
I’m not an expert on either font or Excel coding. But I notice your particular version gives you other CSV choices. You might try those. (And, of course, be sure the file you are importing has actually been saved in CSV format. Some users make the mistake of opening a CSV bank export with Excel, which will create an Excel file, even though read from a CSV file.)
Another thing to do is to examine the CSV file itself with a text editor rather than Excel to see what characters are actually present.
When pasted into Notepad it shows correctly the local characters.
Below are the file types Manager wants, but can’t seem to match with Excel available options besides CSV
It really is not the Excel save-as options that matter, but the bank’s export options. All the formats listed for importing are monetary exchange formats. And you have already said your bank only offers CSV of those Manager will accept.
The last idea I have is to be sure the CSV file is in a font Manager recognizes. Helvetica should be safe.
What happens when saving as CSV UTF-8?
Super, CSV UTF-8 works like a charm. All local characters come through