# Parse CSV w/ Arabic

**URL:** <https://community.make.com/t/parse-csv-w-arabic/77117>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** error\
**Created:** [March 31, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://community.make.com/t/parse-csv-w-arabic/77117 "2025-03-31T17:23:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Keymaker](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.make.com/keymaker/32/68222_2.png) [@Keymaker](https://community.make.com/u/Keymaker)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://community.make.com/t/parse-csv-w-arabic/77117/1 "2025-03-31T17:23:01Z")

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Does anyone know how to make CSV/XLSX files in Arabic readable for the Parse CSV module in Make? I keep getting gibberish (screenshot attached). The problem stems from Make not being able to read Arabic, not the module. I tried using a translator module which received the same input from the file.

 ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/make/original/3X/7/c/7c21cc3434705cae36358f71b33305026c119fe0.png)

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**Author:** ![samliew](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.make.com/samliew/32/13327_2.png) [@samliew](https://community.make.com/u/samliew)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2025, 10:19am UTC](https://community.make.com/t/parse-csv-w-arabic/77117/2 "2025-04-01T10:19:16Z")

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XLSX files are not CSV. You cannot directly parse CSV from an XLSX file.

Try converting it into CSV first.

To do this, you can try using the CloudConvert “ **Convert a File** ” module —

> Converts a file into a selected output format.

For more information, see [https://www.make.com/en/integrations/cloudconvert](https://www.make.com/en/integrations/cloudconvert), and [https://www.make.com/en/help/app/cloudconvert](https://www.make.com/en/help/app/cloudconvert) in the help centre.

If you do not want to use CloudConvert, a free option is to upload to Google Drive and use the “Download a File” module to convert it to CSV (expand the advanced settings).

To do this, you can try using the Google Drive “ **Download a File** ” module —

> Downloads a file.

For more information, see [https://www.make.com/en/integrations/google-drive](https://www.make.com/en/integrations/google-drive), and [https://www.make.com/en/help/app/google-drive](https://www.make.com/en/help/app/google-drive) in the help centre.

Hope this helps! Let me know if there are any further questions or issues.

— @samliew

P.S.: Investing some effort into the [Make Academy](https://academy.make.com) will save you lots of time and frustration using Make.

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**Author:** ![Keymaker](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.make.com/keymaker/32/68222_2.png) [@Keymaker](https://community.make.com/u/Keymaker)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://community.make.com/t/parse-csv-w-arabic/77117/3 "2025-04-01T20:15:51Z")

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That did it! Thank you for the reply.

However, it’s 1/2 of the puzzle - when trying to create a new CSV from the parsed data (“Create CSV (Advanced)”), the data comes back out scrambled, which leads me to believe that Make’s native CSV creation function is using a different encoding (my files are use UTF-8 by default. Do you have any recommendations on file encoding in Make?

No worries if not; I’ll continue to hunt for a solution.

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**Author:** ![Make\_Bot](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.make.com/make_bot/32/14661_2.png) [@Make\_Bot](https://community.make.com/u/Make_Bot)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.make.com/t/parse-csv-w-arabic/77117/4 "2025-04-15T20:16:44Z")

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