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Transition to UTF-8

With CadnaA 2026, the software will transition to UTF-8, the most widely used encoding for Unicode characters. This change enables the use of any character from different languages in CadnaA and ensures seamless file exchange between systems.

Information

In most cases, no user action is required. Special cases — such as opening files created with characters from other languages or using global libraries stored on a server — are explained below.

The term “Codepage”

Texts, words, and characters are represented in computers by numerical values. To achieve this mapping, a clear correspondence between numbers and characters is required. This mapping is defined by a codepage, which assigns a specific numeric value to each displayable character. Different regions use different codepages.

Codepage up to Version 2025 MR1

Up to version 2025 MR1, CadnaA used the system’s default Windows codepage, e.g., Windows-1252 (ANSI) for Western Europe. In other regions, other codepages were used — for example, Windows-1253 for Greek. Exchanging such files between systems (e.g., a computer with Windows-1252 opening a file created with Windows-1253) often led to incorrect display of special characters in the software. Furthermore, file imports could cause issues if the imported file used a different codepage than the one set on the system.

Codepage from Version 2026 onward

Starting with version 2026, all CadnaA files will use Windows Codepage 65001 (UTF-8) by default. This encoding supports all characters used worldwide, ensuring smooth data exchange and import.

Transition and possible issues

When opening a CadnaA file created with version 2025 MR1 or earlier, the software automatically converts it to Codepage 65001 (UTF-8). The system’s current codepage is used as the “source” codepage, which in most cases ensures correct conversion.

Potential issues are described below:

File codepage different from system codepage

If a file was created using a different codepage than the one currently set on the system, this can be handled using the Codepage for Legacy-Files option in the Properties | Miscellaneous menu.

Example: If a file created with Windows-1253 (Greek) was opened on a system using Windows-1252 (Western Europe), it is necessary to select Windows-1253 under Properties | Miscellaneous before opening the file.

Changing the Codepage for individual attributes

If an incorrect codepage was used when opening a file, individual object attributes can be corrected afterwards using the “Modify Attributes” dialog.

Example: A file created with Windows-1252 is opened and saved on a system using Windows-1253. The street name “Übung” now appears as “άbung,” because the letter “Ü” does not exist in Windows-1253, but “ά” does instead. To correct this, perform the following steps:

  1. Modify objects
  2. Modify attribute (for all roads)
  3. Attribute = BEZ
  4. Use standard settings for “Find” and “Replace”
  5. Activate the option “Modify Codepage”
  6. Source codepage: 1253 (the codepage that should have been used when opening)
  7. Target codepage: 1252 (the codepage that was incorrectly used)
  8. Confirm

The text “άbung” will now correctly appear as “Übung”

Global library on a server

See the notes under Adjustment of IDs.

Converting Template Files to UTF-8

Text files used in CadnaA — for example, when using Print Reports, Print Template File, or when importing PlotDesigner templates — must be converted to UTF-8 by the user. To do this, open the file (for example, with the Windows text editor) and save it via “Save As” with UTF-8 encoding.