Character encoding error when sharing files over network from one PC to another

Question

The error is as follows: I have two PCs on a network, one of which has a shared folder. On the PC that owns this shared folder, when opening a file (e.g., .txt) in this folder that contains PT-BR characters, such as accented letters (á, ã, etc.) are displayed correctly. However, when using the other PC to access this shared folder, copy the file to the other PC, and open it, the characters are replaced by the "replacement character."

Answer 1

Hi, thanks for reaching out. I understand how important it is for your files to display correctly across devices, especially when working with special characters like those used in Portuguese. Let’s take a look at what’s going on. The issue you're experiencing is typically caused by a mismatch in character encoding. The original PC likely saved the file using an encoding like UTF-8 or ISO-8859-1, which supports accented characters. However, when the second PC opens the file, it may be interpreting it using a different encoding that doesn’t recognize those characters, resulting in the replacement symbols. To resolve this, I recommend opening the file on the original PC using a text editor like Notepad++ or VS Code and checking the encoding format. If it’s not already in UTF-8, convert and save it in that format. Then, on the second PC, use the same editor to open the file and confirm it’s being read as UTF-8. Also, make sure the file is being copied directly through Windows Explorer or a mapped network drive to avoid any automatic re-encoding by third-party apps. Just to clarify, are you using any specific software to open or transfer the file on the second PC? Knowing that will help me guide you better.