diff --git a/bits/23_binutils.js b/bits/23_binutils.js
index 3307191..62509d4 100644
--- a/bits/23_binutils.js
+++ b/bits/23_binutils.js
@@ -181,21 +181,29 @@ function WriteShift(t/*:number*/, val/*:string|number*/, f/*:?string*/)/*:any*/
 		/*:: if(typeof val !== 'string') throw new Error("unreachable"); */
 		for(i = 0; i != val.length; ++i) __writeUInt16LE(this, val.charCodeAt(i), this.l + 2 * i);
 		size = 2 * val.length;
-	} else if(f === 'sbcs') {
+	} else if(f === 'sbcs' || f == 'cpstr') {
 		if(typeof $cptable !== 'undefined' && current_ansi == 874) {
 			/* TODO: use tables directly, don't encode */
 			/*:: if(typeof val !== "string") throw new Error("unreachable"); */
 			for(i = 0; i != val.length; ++i) {
-				var cppayload = $cptable.utils.encode(current_ansi, val.charAt(i));
-				this[this.l + i] = cppayload[0];
+				var cpp = $cptable.utils.encode(current_ansi, val.charAt(i));
+				this[this.l + i] = cpp[0];
 			}
+			size = val.length;
+		} else if(typeof $cptable !== 'undefined' && f == 'cpstr') {
+			var cpp = $cptable.utils.encode(current_ansi, val);
+			/* replace null bytes with _ when relevant */
+      if(cpp.length == val.length) for(i = 0; i < val.length; ++i) if(cpp[i] == 0 && val.charCodeAt(i) != 0) cpp[i] = 0x5F;
+      if(cpp.length == 2 * val.length) for(i = 0; i < val.length; ++i) if(cpp[2*i] == 0 && cpp[2*i+1] == 0 && val.charCodeAt(i) != 0) cpp[2*i] = 0x5F;
+			for(i = 0; i < cpp.length; ++i) this[this.l + i] = cpp[i];
+			size = cpp.length;
 		} else {
 			/*:: if(typeof val !== 'string') throw new Error("unreachable"); */
 			val = val.replace(/[^\x00-\x7F]/g, "_");
 			/*:: if(typeof val !== 'string') throw new Error("unreachable"); */
 			for(i = 0; i != val.length; ++i) this[this.l + i] = (val.charCodeAt(i) & 0xFF);
+			size = val.length;
 		}
-		size = val.length;
 	} else if(f === 'hex') {
 		for(; i < t; ++i) {
 			/*:: if(typeof val !== "string") throw new Error("unreachable"); */
diff --git a/bits/40_harb.js b/bits/40_harb.js
index 45a5b05..7ed7b6e 100644
--- a/bits/40_harb.js
+++ b/bits/40_harb.js
@@ -282,7 +282,8 @@ function sheet_to_dbf(ws/*:Worksheet*/, opts/*:WriteOpts*/) {
 				case 'object': _guess = col[j] instanceof Date ? 'D' : 'C'; break;
 				default: _guess = 'C';
 			}
-			maxlen = Math.max(maxlen, String(col[j]).length);
+			/* TODO: cache the values instead of encoding twice */
+			maxlen = Math.max(maxlen, (typeof $cptable !== "undefined" && typeof col[j] == "string" ? $cptable.utils.encode(current_ansi, col[j]): String(col[j])).length);
 			guess = guess && guess != _guess ? 'C' : _guess;
 			//if(guess == 'C') break;
 		}
@@ -352,9 +353,11 @@ function sheet_to_dbf(ws/*:Worksheet*/, opts/*:WriteOpts*/) {
 						rout.write_shift(2, ("00"+data[i][j].getDate()).slice(-2), "sbcs");
 					} break;
 				case 'C':
+					var _l = rout.l;
 					var _s = String(data[i][j] != null ? data[i][j] : "").slice(0, colwidths[j]);
-					rout.write_shift(1, _s, "sbcs");
-					for(hcnt=0; hcnt < colwidths[j]-_s.length; ++hcnt) rout.write_shift(1, 0x20); break;
+					rout.write_shift(1, _s, "cpstr");
+					_l += colwidths[j] - rout.l;
+					for(hcnt=0; hcnt < _l; ++hcnt) rout.write_shift(1, 0x20); break;
 			}
 		}
 		// data
@@ -598,6 +601,7 @@ var SYLK = /*#__PURE__*/(function() {
 	}
 
 	function sheet_to_sylk(ws/*:Worksheet*/, opts/*:?any*/, wb/*:?WorkBook*/)/*:string*/ {
+		/* TODO: codepage */
 		var preamble/*:Array<string>*/ = ["ID;PSheetJS;N;E"], o/*:Array<string>*/ = [];
 		var r = safe_decode_range(ws['!ref']), cell/*:Cell*/;
 		var dense = Array.isArray(ws);
diff --git a/bits/57_cmntxml.js b/bits/57_cmntxml.js
index a55e411..45c3bcf 100644
--- a/bits/57_cmntxml.js
+++ b/bits/57_cmntxml.js
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ function write_comments_xml(data/*::, opts*/) {
 		d[1].forEach(function(c) {
 			if(c.a) lastauthor = iauthor.indexOf(escapexml(c.a));
 			if(c.T) ++tcnt;
-			ts.push(writetag("t", c.t == null ? "" : escapexml(c.t)));
+			ts.push(c.t == null ? "" : escapexml(c.t));
 		});
 		if(tcnt === 0) {
 			d[1].forEach(function(c) {