Guide
Krutidev in Excel
Excel's auto-formatting silently corrupts Krutidev text. Here is how to prevent it, set up sheets correctly, and convert data to Unicode without losing cell structure.
The Auto-Format Trap
Excel's biggest problem with Krutidev is not font support. It is auto-format detection. Because Krutidev maps Hindi characters to ASCII codes, certain Hindi words produce sequences that Excel reads as dates, numbers, or formulas. The word you typed vanishes and gets replaced with a date like "12-Mar" or a number.
This happens silently. Excel does not warn you. If you do not notice immediately, Ctrl+Z stops working after you move to another cell. The original text is gone permanently.
Prevention: Before entering any Krutidev data, select the entire data range (or full columns), right-click, choose Format Cells, and set Number format to Text. This tells Excel to treat everything as a literal string. Do this before typing, not after.
Setting Up the Sheet
Select all cells (Ctrl+A), open Format Cells (Ctrl+1), and set these:
- Font: Kruti Dev 010 at 14pt. The font dropdown in Excel is at the top of the Home tab, same as Word.
- Number format: Text (not General). General is the default and causes the auto-format problems described above.
- Row height: Set to 22-25 points. Default row height (15 points) clips the bottom of Krutidev characters. Select all rows, right-click a row header, choose Row Height, and enter 22.
- Column width: Hindi words in Krutidev are wider than English at the same font size. Widen columns to at least 15-20 characters or use Format > AutoFit Column Width after entering data.
The Formula Bar Problem
When you click a cell containing Krutidev text, the formula bar at the top shows the raw ASCII characters, not Hindi. This is normal. The formula bar uses its own font (usually Calibri), not the cell's font. You are looking at the underlying data that the Krutidev font renders as Hindi glyphs.
Do not try to edit Krutidev text in the formula bar. Click into the cell itself (double-click or press F2) to edit. The cell uses the Krutidev font and shows Hindi correctly. The formula bar does not.
Sorting Krutidev Data
Excel sorts Krutidev text by ASCII code values, not by Hindi alphabetical order. This means names starting with क (ka) will not sort together because the Krutidev codes for क do not follow Devanagari alphabetical sequence. There is no workaround for this in Excel.
If you need proper Hindi sorting, convert the data to Unicode first. Unicode Hindi sorts correctly in Excel because Unicode code points follow the Devanagari script order.
Converting Sheets to Unicode
For sheets with structured data (names, addresses, descriptions in separate columns), convert one column at a time:
- Click the column header (e.g., column B) to select the entire column
- Copy with Ctrl+C
- Paste into our Krutidev to Unicode converter
- Copy the converted Unicode output
- In a new sheet, click the target column, set font to Mangal or Nirmala UI, then paste
Each cell's content pastes into a separate line in the converter and returns as separate lines. The row structure is preserved. Merged cells break this pattern, so unmerge cells before converting.
Print Setup for Hindi Spreadsheets
Go to Page Layout > Margins and set all margins to at least 0.7 inches. The default "Normal" margins (0.75 inch) work. Avoid "Narrow" margins because Hindi text at 14pt needs more breathing room than English at 11pt.
Check Print Preview (Ctrl+P) before printing. Two things break frequently: (1) Scale to Fit shrinks text below 10pt making it unreadable, and (2) page breaks split Hindi words mid-glyph. Set Scale to Fit to "No Scaling" and adjust column widths manually to fit within page width instead.