The Problem with Legacy Tamil Word Documents

Millions of Word documents created in the 1990s and 2000s contain Tamil text in legacy font encodings — Bamini, SenTamil, TSCII, Vanavil, and others. When you open these documents on a modern computer that doesn't have the original font installed, the Tamil text appears as random English letters, symbols, or boxes.

The document isn't corrupted — the text is intact. It just needs the right font to display, or it needs to be converted to Unicode which works everywhere.

Step 1 — Identify the Font Used

Before converting, you need to know which legacy font encodes the Tamil text in the document.

1. Open the Word document.
2. Click on any line of Tamil text (even if it looks like garbled English).
3. Look at the font name in the Home tab toolbar — it will show the font applied to that text.
4. Note the font name. Common ones: Bamini, SenTamil, TSCII, Vanavil, SunTommy, SunSuraj, Shree Lipi, TAM, Amudham.

This font name tells you which source encoding to select in the converter.

Step 2 — Copy the Tamil Text

1. In the Word document, select all the Tamil text. If the whole document is Tamil, press Ctrl+A to select everything.
2. Press Ctrl+C to copy.

Tip for mixed documents: If your document mixes English and Tamil text, it's best to copy only the Tamil sections. Selecting mixed content and converting it will garble the English portions because the converter treats every character as Tamil-encoded. Copy Tamil sections separately.

Step 3 — Convert on FontConvertor.in

1. Go to FontConvertor.in/font-converter.
2. In the Source Font dropdown, select the font you identified in Step 1 (e.g., Bamini).
3. In the Target Font dropdown, select Unicode (UTF-8).
4. Paste the copied text into the input area (Ctrl+V). The Unicode output appears instantly on the right.
5. If the output looks incorrect, go back and try a different source font.

Step 4 — Download and Replace

Once the Unicode output looks correct:

1. Click the Download button in the output panel and choose .docx format. This saves the converted text as a new Word document.
2. Alternatively, click Copy and paste the Unicode text directly back into your original Word document — replacing the legacy-encoded text.

If pasting back into Word, make sure to change the font of the pasted text to a Tamil Unicode font like Noto Sans Tamil, Latha, or Vijaya so it renders properly.

Handling Large Documents

For long documents (books, reports, long articles), convert in sections:

• Copy one chapter or section at a time.
• Paste each converted section back in order.
• Save frequently.

For multiple Word files, use the Bulk Converter on FontConvertor.in — upload multiple .docx files at once and download all the converted Unicode versions in one go.

Documents with Tables, Headers, and Footnotes

Tamil text inside Word tables, headers, footers, and footnotes is often missed when selecting with Ctrl+A. To handle these:

• Click inside each table cell with Tamil text, select it, and convert separately.
• Double-click the header area to enter it, copy the Tamil text, convert, and paste back.
• Do the same for footers and footnotes.

After Conversion — Final Checks

• Read through the converted text to spot any incorrectly converted characters.
• Check that the font in Word is set to a Tamil Unicode font (Noto Sans Tamil, Latha, or Vijaya).
• Test on another device or send to a colleague — the text should now display correctly without any special font installed.
• Save the final document as .docx or export as .pdf to lock in the Unicode text.

Once converted to Unicode, your Tamil Word documents are future-proof — readable on any device, searchable, and indexable by Google. Start converting on FontConvertor.in — free, no signup needed.