# If characters aren’t appeared correctly in CotEditor on Mac

Characters can be misinterpreted if CotEditor fails to detect the file’s text encoding correctly. In such cases, change the text encoding as described below:

1. Choose Format > Text Encoding, and then choose encoding from the list.
2. When a dialog appears, click Reinterpret.

The behavior of each button in this dialog is as follows:

  Converts the text from the current encoding to the new one.
Reinterpret
  Reopens the file with the new encoding.
Convert
Cancel
  Cancels the operation. The document is left unmodified.

- You can also change the text encoding from the encoding menu in the status bar.
- Changing the priority of the encoding detection may help to reduce the occurrences of garbled characters.
  → Change priorities of text encodings
- If you select “Refer to encoding declaration in document” in the Format settings pane, in-document encoding declarations, such as “`encoding=`” or “`@charset`,” take precedence when CotEditor detects the text encoding.
  → Use encoding declarations for encoding detection

## See also

- Change priorities of text encodings
- Use encoding declarations for encoding detection
- Use four kinds of Shift JIS properly