OL98: Japanese Characters Converted To "?"

ID: Q162322

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 98, Japanese version

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

If you use the Japanese version of Microsoft Outlook 98 to forward or reply to a message that originated from the English version of Outlook, and in your forward or reply, you type Japanese characters, the Japanese characters are converted to "?" when sent.

CAUSE

Outlook keeps the character set information of the original message. For example, the English version of Outlook sets the character set to Western by default. If you use the Japanese version of Outlook to receive a message from the English version of Outlook, type some Japanese and forward or reply to the message over the Internet, the message is encoded with the Western character set. As a result, Japanese characters are converted to "?". Outlook is designed to keep the original character set. The fix in this article adds a new registry entry to force the sender's character set to retain Japanese. For more details, see the MORE INFORMATION section of this article.

RESOLUTION

A supported fix that corrects this problem is now available from Microsoft, but has not been fully regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. If you are not severely affected by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Release that contains this fix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/default.asp

The Japanese version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:


   Component: OUTLLIB

   File Name     Version
   ------------------------
   outllib.dll   8.5.5806.0 (or later)

This fix is supplied in a self-extracting file called UPDATE.EXE. To apply this fix you must run UPDATE.EXE on each Outlook client to install the new OUTLLIB.DLL file. Do not copy OUTLLIB.DLL to each client or you will loose the PID and license information from the splash screen and Help About. NOTE: If you contact Microsoft to obtain this fix, a fee may be charged. This fee is refundable if it is determined that you only require the fix you requested. However, this fee is non-refundable if you request additional technical support, if your no-charge technical support period has expired, or if you are not eligible for standard no-charge technical support.

For more information about eligibility for no-charge technical support, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q154871 Determining If Your Product Is Eligible for No-Charge Technical Support

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Outlook 98.

MORE INFORMATION

To change this initial behavior of Outlook, you must add a Windows registry entry in addition to installing the newer version of Outllib.dll on the computer.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

Adding the following registry entry after installing the fix described in this article will disable the default behavior and allow the option to be determined at initial startup time:

Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe or Regedit.exe).

Go to the following key in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Options\MSHTML\ International

On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and use the following entry:
```
      Value Name: RemapOutboundWestern
      Data Type: REG_DWORD
      Value: 1 (hex) 
```
If the registry entry does not exist or if the value is set to 0, the original behavior is retained. If the value is set to 1, the original character set is overwritten with the value which is set by [Format]- [Language] in New Mail Message window.

Quit the Registry Editor.

Additional query words: 98 PR_INTERNET_CPID DBCS QFE


Keywords          : kbdta 
Version           : 
Platform          : 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: August 5, 1999