XFOR: Outbound SMTP with 8-Bit Data in the Message Body

ID: Q195215

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Exchange Server versions 5.0 and 5.5

SYMPTOMS

Outbound SMTP messages from the Internet Mail Service may contain 8-bit data in the message body, even though the Internet Mail Service is configured to use UUENCODE and the US-ASCII character set.

CAUSE

The 8-bit data should be mapped to the 7-bit equivalents. Outlook 98 introduces a property that incorrectly signals the Internet Mail Service to use the ISO8859-1 character set, instead of US-ASCII.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server version 5.5. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q191014
   TITLE     : XGEN: How to Obtain the Latest Exchange Server 5.5 Service
               Pack

   Component: Store

   File Name      Version
   -------------------------
   Store.exe    5.5.2438.0
   Mdbmsg.dll   5.5.2438.0
   Gapi32.dll   5.5.2438.0

   Store.exe    5.0.1461.75
   Mdbmsg.dll   5.0.1461.75

STATUS

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server versions 5.0 and 5.5.

MORE INFORMATION

The Internet Mail Service will encode outbound mail according to the following criterion:

• If the Internet Mail Service is configured as MIME, the Internet Mail Service encodes the 8-bit data in either base64 or quoted printable.
• If the Internet Mail Service is configured to send UUENCODE and the outbound character set specified is US-ASCII, then the Internet Mail Service will take the 8-bit data and match it to the closest 7-bit equivalent.
• If the Internet Mail Service is configured to send UUENCODE with the outbound character set specified as ISO-8859-1, then the 8-bit data should be left in the body of the message.

Keywords          : exc55sp2fix
Version           : WinNT:5.0,5.5
Platform          : winnt
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

Last Reviewed: December 31, 1998