diff --git a/src/gui_qt/io/gracereader.py b/src/gui_qt/io/gracereader.py
index f563239..26b15ff 100644
--- a/src/gui_qt/io/gracereader.py
+++ b/src/gui_qt/io/gracereader.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import numpy as np
+
 from nmreval.lib.lines import LineStyle
 from nmreval.lib.symbols import SymbolStyle
 from nmreval.data.points import Points
@@ -90,6 +92,7 @@ class QGraceReader(QtWidgets.QDialog, Ui_Dialog):
             label = self._reader.get_property(*key, 'legend').replace('"', '')
             # label = self._reader.graphs[key[0]].sets[key[1]]['legend'].replace('"', '')
             sd = s.data
+            sd = np.atleast_2d(sd)
             if s.type == 'xydy':
                 data.append(Points(x=sd[:, 0], y=sd[:, 1], y_err=sd[:, 2], name=label))
             else:
diff --git a/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py b/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py
index 61c27db..58a114e 100644
--- a/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py
+++ b/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import codecs
 import pathlib
 import re
 import warnings
@@ -104,9 +105,8 @@ class GraceEditor:
 
         # we start always with the header
         current_pos = 'header'
-        with self.file.open('r') as f:
+        with self.file.open('r', errors='replace') as f:
             for line_nr, line in enumerate(f):
-
                 # lots of states to check
                 # agr file order: header, drawing object, region, graph, set
                 if current_pos == 'header':