Are formulas affected?

Formulas skipped; leading-zero result forced text.

Can I undo the operation?

Yes. Undo Last on the ribbon reverses it in a single step.

Does the result stay linked to the source?

The output does not track the source afterwards; a quick rerun brings it up to date.

Fix Broken Characters in Excel

Fix Broken Characters

Repairs garbled characters, sometimes called mojibake, in the selected text. This often happens after importing from a CSV file, the web, a PDF or an old export. Select the affected cells and run it. Only text cells change and formulas are left untouched. Everything runs on your computer.

In short: Repairs garbled characters, sometimes called mojibake, in the selected text. This often happens after importing from a CSV file, the web, a PDF or an old export. Select the affected cells and run it. Only text cells change and formulas are left untouched. Everything runs on your computer. In-place value edits. The source table is left as it is; Undo Last brings it back if needed.

What it is for

Fix Broken Characters is used to repair broken/garbled Turkish characters (mojibake).

When to use it

It earns its place whenever you have to fix corrupted Turkish letters from a wrongly-encoded CSV import.

Example scenarios

Fix corrupted Turkish letters from a wrongly-encoded CSV import.

What it needs

A range selection (merged rejected). Supported data types: text, number, date (by selection).

How to use it

Select the range to clean.
Run Fix Broken Characters from the Clean group on the XLMind Data tab.
Confirm; in-place value edits.

What it produces

In-place value edits.

Effect on your data and undo

Fix Broken Characters writes the result over the cells you selected. Undo Last rolls the change back in a single step.

How it differs from similar tools

Compared with find-and-replace rounds, it processes the whole selection in a single pass with no skipped cells, and one step reverses it if needed.

Good to know

Merged cells rejected.

Limitations

Merged cells rejected.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the result go?: In-place value edits.
Are formulas affected?: Formulas skipped; leading-zero result forced text.
Can I undo the operation?: Yes. Undo Last on the ribbon reverses it in a single step.
Does the result stay linked to the source?: The output does not track the source afterwards; a quick rerun brings it up to date.
Any known limits?: Merged cells rejected.

Works well with

Before you start, consider Trim & Clean
As a next step, use Clean Headers
Often used alongside this tool: Data Profile

Your Excel data is processed on your own computer and is not shared with AI services. The limited data needed for licensing, sales and support is held on our infrastructure in Türkiye.