SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

1371143 - Incorrect characters displays in MS Excel when opening a report exported to CSV format from Crystal Reports

Symptom

  • Incorrect characters displayed in MS Excel.
  • Accent characters are not dispolyed as expected in MS Excel.
  • Incorrect characters displays in MS Excel when opening a report exported to CSV format from Crystal Reports.
  • Report containing “umlaut” characters like: ä,ë,ï,é are substitute by incorrect values in MS Excel like: ääé

Environment

  • SAP Crystal Reports 2008
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2011
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2013
  • SAP Crystal Reports 2016

Reproducing the Issue

  1. Create or open a report in Crystal Reports.
  2. Add a database fields or text object that output umlaut characters like: ä,ë,ï
  3. Export the report to CSV format
    • In the Export window, select the format "Separated Values (CSV)” format, then click “OK”
    • In the “Separated Values Export Options” window, set the “Mode” to “Standard mode”, then click “OK”
  4. Open the csv file in MS Excel
  5. Notice the umlaut characters are substitute by characters like: ää

Cause

  • When exporting to CSV format it uses UTF-8 encoding, however it does not output the UTF-8 BOM at the beginning of the file, and without the BOM, MS Excel can’t open the CSV file using the UTF-8 encoding. This is why the umlaut characters are not displayed correctly in MS Excel.
        
  • This is a known issue that has been tracked under: ADAPT01195624

Resolution

  • To resolve the issue set the registry key: IncludeUTF8BOM to the value: 1
             
    WARNING The following resolution involves editing the Microsoft Registry. Using the MS Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems. Use the MS Registry Editor at your own risk. For more information see the SAP Knowledge Base Article 1323322        
    1. Close Crystal Reports designer.
           
    2. Open the Microsoft Registry Editor. 
      1. Under the menu "Start" in MS Windows, select "Run"
      2. Type: regedit
         
    3. In the MS Registry Editor, navigate to the path corresponding to the version of Crystal Reports used:
            
      • For Crystal Reports 2008:
          
            HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\Suite 12.0\Crystal Reports\Export\CSV
            
      • For Crystal Reports 2011, 2013,2016:
          
            HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAP BusinessObjects\Suite XI 4.0\Crystal Reports\Export\CSV
          
        Important Notes:
        - If the last part of the path does not exist, simply add the missing keys.
        - If you are using a 64bit Edition of MS Windows, the registry path will start with: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node
          
    4. Under CSV, add the DWORD Value: IncludeUTF8BOM, and set the value to: 1
      1. Right click on the CSV key, and select "New - DWORD Value"
      2. Set the DWORD Value to: IncludeUTF8BOM
      3. Set the value of UTF16Mode to: 1 

Keywords

Crystal Reports, CR, Export, CSV, MS Excel, umlaut , KBA , BI-RA-CR , Crystal Reports designer or Business View Manager , Bug Filed

Product

Crystal Reports 2008 V0 ; Crystal Reports 2008 V1 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2011 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2013 ; SAP Crystal Reports 2016