# How to Handle International Characters

Use these settings when non-English characters render as boxes, question marks, or missing glyphs.

International character support depends on both template settings and font coverage.

### Enable Unicode support

1. Open the **Document Options** tab.
2. Under **Other Options**, check **Template contains international characters (Unicode fonts)**.
3. Save the template.

If characters still do not render correctly, change the Unicode enforcement level.

### Choose a Unicode enforcement level

| Level  | What it does                           | Use it for                              | Performance impact |
| ------ | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| None   | Uses standard character handling       | English-only documents                  | None               |
| Data   | Enforces Unicode in merge field output | Western European languages              | Minimal            |
| Strict | Applies full Unicode enforcement       | Asian, Arabic, Hebrew, or mixed scripts | Moderate           |

### When to use each level

* Use **Data** for accented Latin characters or Cyrillic text.
* Use **Strict** for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, or Hebrew.
* Start with the lowest level that fixes the issue.

### Font guidance

Font choice matters as much as the Unicode setting.

Use fonts with broad international coverage:

* `Arial`
* `Arial Unicode MS`
* `Calibri`
* `Tahoma`
* `Verdana`
* `Times New Roman`

Avoid decorative, script, or specialty fonts when you need reliable multilingual output.

{% hint style="warning" %}
If the setting is correct but characters still fail, switch to a font with wider Unicode coverage first.
{% endhint %}

### Language-specific troubleshooting

#### Accented characters or Cyrillic

Try basic Unicode support first.

If needed, change the enforcement level to **Data**.

#### Chinese, Japanese, or Korean

Set the enforcement level to **Strict**.

Use a font that supports the required character set.

#### Arabic or Hebrew

Set the enforcement level to **Strict**.

Use right-to-left formatting when the document layout requires it.

For right-to-left layout guidance, read [How to Work with Right-to-Left Languages](/sdocs/advanced-template-logic/template-attributes/template-attributes-how-to-guides/how-to-work-with-right-to-left-languages.md).

### Quick test content

Use a test block with representative characters before rollout:

```plaintext
Spanish: ñ é í ó ú ü ¿ ¡
French: à è é ê ë ï ô ù û ç
German: ä ö ü ß
Polish: ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ź ż
Chinese: 你好世界
Japanese: こんにちは
Arabic: مرحبا
Russian: Привет
```

Test with the same font you plan to ship.


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