Odd characters in Outlook and Outlook Express

[dmuroff]

When I recieve some emails in Outlook the message seems to be corrupt. The same thing happens when I send emails. The receipiant gets strange characters like this:

U-a#2#
*c
M#2
17#
[**c*fa#
[*#2#n
[m*
1v#mm*#v
[
vm#7#*m*vc
#m7
[g#mv
;s
;s
87#2#
[ggc
Mm#vc#*v
[gg#vnm#a
gg#caa8m#c
#cm#vn
[v#7m#vn*f#
Y;s;s
&n
[*
a;s;s7#;s;s
N
N
N
N
N
U
f*
[g#Hm
[fm
N
N
N
N
N;s
[
c7|#%
[*#H

caa#
;7
[gvc|7


caa
*vm

[8vc*
mv
[


[*v
8
[#;s9m*v|#&n


[a#H
[
8n#,ua#u,,#|
D[#
8H;s&c|#
8g

[#g
[7m* #
8
~m
v#
6
mcv #
b, #H8n
[mg#
8
c*c8 #.
[#\
[gg

The subject line and the To and From email addresses output similar characters.

I have tried outlook express also and the same thing happens.

I was using outlook 2000 and upgraded to 2003 and nothing seems to have changed.

Could Windows XP be corrupt?
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Dan

 

[StuckInTheMiddle]

Hmm, are you setup as English language?

I'm curious what do you have setup here..


Tools>Options>Mail Format>International Options>Encoding Options

Are you set to Western European( ISO) ?

A,

 

[dmuroff]

Yep, Western European.

It doesn't happen with all emails. Only some but I can't pinpoint which ones.

The amount of characters that it should be does not correspond to the amount of messed up characters.

For example, if the subject is 'test' it will be shown as '?u?V?_?$ftJ??'

 

[smah]

What about sending as plain text vs. html - any consistancy there?

Steve

 

[dmuroff]

I have no checked.

But it still doesn't explain why the email addresses and subject are messed up as well.

 

[Madawc]

It could be Unicode. Something that looks like ordinary English but is encoded in Unicode can come out looking like that.

As to how or why it happens, someone else will need to advise. I just recall getting the same thing cutting and pasting between such script and Word, until I learned to use 'Special Paste'. Not directly relevant to your problem.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Windows XP & Crystal 10