OL98: Japanese Characters Converted To "?" (162322)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

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 is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next that contains this hotfix.

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 about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

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 lose the PID and license information from the splash screen and Help About.

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: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Adding the following registry entry after installing the fix described in this article disables the default behavior and enables 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.