Choose Encoding

This sheet lists all the character encodings supported by your computer. The encoding that is currently being used by the active file is initially selected. Select the encoding that you wish to use from the list, then click OK.

Converting a file from one character encoding to another

When opened with the Set Character Encoding… command in the File menu, this window enables you to change the encoding of the file in the active file panel. The file on disk will not be affected until you save the file.

When you have chosen an encoding from the list, click OK and Merge will then translate the file from its current encoding into the new encoding.

When translating from one character encoding to another, there may be characters that have no translated equivalent in the target encoding. These characters are converted into question mark (?) characters. For the majority of common translations, this will rarely be an issue. For translations between radically different encodings (for example, from a Japanese code page to an English code page), there may be a large number of characters that cannot be translated.

Reopening a file with a different character encoding

If you open a file using an incorrect encoding, some (or all) characters may not appear correctly. In this case, you can use the Reopen File With Encoding… command in the file panel’s context menu (right-click) to reopen the file with the correct encoding. The command will display this window so that you can choose a different encoding to use. Other files displayed within the file comparison window are not affected, and will continue to use the encodings with which they were opened.