OLEXP: Messages Sent with Outlook Express Contain Incorrect Characters (244394)

For information about the differences between Microsoft Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook e-mail clients, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

257824 OL2000: Differences Between Outlook and Outlook Express

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

SYMPTOMS

When you send an e-mail message using Outlook Express, the recipient may see strange characters in place of extended ASCII characters. For example:

! appears as +ACE-
" appears as +ACI-
& appears as +ACY-
@ appears as +AEA-
# appears as +ACM-

CAUSE

This problem can occur if Outlook Express sends a message in the UTF-7 encoding format but the recipient mail client does not support reading the UTF-7 encoding format.

RESOLUTION

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.

To force Outlook Express to send message in the default format rather than the UTF-7 encoding format, use Registry Editor to modify the registry:

Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
Locate and select the Default_Codepage value under the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail
On the Edit menu, click Modify, type the hexadecimal value 4e4, and then click OK.
Quit Registry Editor.

MORE INFORMATION

This issue occurs with Outlook Express 4.01 Service Pack 2 (SP2). When you open an e-mail message, click Language on the View menu, and then select another encoding method (such as UTF-7), you are prompted to create a mapping to always view messages in the selected format. If you click Yes, the mapping is created and Outlook Express sends all new messages in the selected format, regardless of the font setting selected. This issue could exhibit slightly different symptoms depending upon the encoding format selected.