Tamil copied from an old PDF or website comes out garbled
Older PDFs and websites often used fonts such as TSCII, Bamini, Dinamani or a newspaper's own font. Copying gives you the codes of that font, which look like gibberish. Paste the copied text here: the converter tries every font it knows and keeps the one that makes real Tamil words.
PrivateNo uploadsRuns in your browserYou will see:
- The PDF or page shows Tamil, but copied text is English letters or symbols
- Search inside the PDF does not find Tamil words
Old font
Other fonts and fixes
- Tamil text showing as English letters
- Tamil text showing symbols or boxes like ¾Á¢ú
- Convert an old Tamil Word file to Unicode, keeping the layout
- Share old font Tamil text on WhatsApp and social media
- Tamil letters broken in older design and page layout programs
- Move office files from Vanavil, TAM or Stmzh to Unicode Tamil
- Typed Tamil with the keyboard set to English
- Tamil names in an old font in a spreadsheet
- Bamini to Unicode
- Vanavil to Unicode
- Senthamizh to Unicode
- Stmzh to Unicode
- Suntommy to Unicode
- TAM to Unicode
- TAB to Unicode
- TSCII to Unicode
- TACE16 to Unicode
- Shree Lipi to Unicode
- Unicode to Bamini
- Unicode to Vanavil
- Unicode to Senthamizh
- Unicode to Stmzh
- Unicode to Suntommy
- Unicode to TAM
- Unicode to TAB
- Unicode to TSCII
- Unicode to TACE16
- Unicode to Shree Lipi
How to fix it
Copy from the PDF or page
Select and copy the text as usual. It will look wrong; that is expected.
Paste it here
Find it for me picks the font. Try a suggested font if a few letters look wrong.
Use the clean text
Copy, share or download the Unicode Tamil.
Questions people ask
What if the PDF is a scanned picture?
A scanned page has no text to copy. Use the image to text tool on this site with Tamil chosen, then fix any letters it missed.
Is my text or file uploaded?
No. Everything is converted in your browser on this device. Nothing you paste or open is sent to a server.