save as csv does not recognize unicode output from sql

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by mokhawaja

239

Hi,

i am building a flow that would be triggered from PowerApps button, to run a SQL query and then save the output in csv file (check screenshot) Screenshot (55).png

the problem is my SQL table contains columns with Arabic letter data, and when it is saved as csv it is scrambled!the output saved file

but when i change the flow to save the sql query output as *txt file, here the Arabic letters are fine and intact.

so is there a way to directly let it save unicode csv file?

Note: my column type in SQL is (nvarchar)

thanks,

Mohammad

Categories:

General topics

I have the same question (0)

All responses (8)

Answers (0)

v-yamao-msft on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi @mokhawaja,

Have you tried to open the file with a different option such as Word document to see if it will be OK?

Please check your SQL query, and make sure they are running without problems.

I have tried the Create CVS table action on my side, it got value from SharePoint list using the action Get items, then when I opened the file with Excel/Word document, it wasn’t scrambled.

Best regards,

Mabel Mao

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
mokhawaja 239 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

hi @v-yamao-msft,
i tried to open it in Word, and it prompt "File Conversion" (check screenshot), and it reads correctly, but i need it to open in excel as i am planning to send this file to my users as attachment, and i want to make their lives easier by directly using the file in excel.

thanks,
Mohammad

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
KovA 7 on at

Like (2)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi,

I see this post is a bit old, but it might be relevant for some. I had the same issue, getting the data from the DB, exporting to CSV and opening it in Excel. The character encoding was wrong, no matter what I tried to do.

But! I opened the same CSV file in Notepad++ and the characters were correct. You can also check the results in the "Create CSV Table" Output, the characters should be good there too.

So it turns out that Excel automatically set the character encoding to some default value (I assume this is based in your regional settings in Windows) when you open the file just by double clicking, but this is not the way to import data from a CSV to Excel.

Solution:
Go to the Data tab on the ribbon, select import from CSV and change the character encoding to the correct one. For me it was UTF-8.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
seewo 59 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

no any solution on it , in 2022, I face this issue yet.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
mohanade 65 on at

Like (1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!
I've found the solution thanks to this post

concat(uriComponentToString('%EF%BB%BF'),body('Create_CSV_table'))

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Bidhu 5 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Hi, I have Arabic characters in my CSV data. I tried using various encoding approaches including the one suggested above. But, none of them helped. Interestingly, when I opened the CSV file in Notepad++, the Arabic characters are shown correctly. Can anyone please suggest how can I solve this?

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
mohanade 65 on at

Like (1)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

I've tested it in Arabic and it works, make sure you implemented your flow correctly as per my screenshot

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Bidhu 5 on at

Like (0)

Report
Copy link

Link copied!

Thank you. It worked finally.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No