OL2002: How to Compose E-mail Messages in Japanese with IME (308557)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 2002

This article was previously published under Q308557

SUMMARY

To compose an e-mail message in Japanese, Microsoft Outlook uses the Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) feature of Microsoft Office XP. This article describes how to install the language support components for Internet Explorer and use the international language support in Outlook.

MORE INFORMATION

To install the Japanese Global IME for Office XP, follow these steps:
  1. Do one of the following:
  2. In the list of available languages, click Japanese IME.
  3. When the installation is complete, restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Using the Global IME with Outlook

To send an e-mail message in Japanese, the e-mail message must be in HTML format. This allows Outlook to use the Global IME. To enable HTML format for outgoing e-mail messages, follow these steps:
  1. Start Outlook.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  3. On the Mail Format tab, click HTML in the Send in this message format list.

Composing an E-mail Message Using the Global IME for Japanese

To use the Global IME for Japanese to compose an e-mail message, follow these steps:
  1. In Outlook, open a new e-mail message.
  2. To begin typing Japanese characters, place the cursor in the body of the Outlook HTML e-mail message.
  3. Click the EN icon on the taskbar, and then click Japanese IME.

    A floating toolbar should appear on the screen. The Japanese IME is selected but inactive (off) at this point.
  4. Activate the IME by typing the keyboard combination ALT+~ (ALT+tilde). To deactivate the IME, press ALT+~.

    NOTE: You can also activate or deactivate the IME by clicking the Pen icon in the system tray, and then clicking On/Off on the pop-up menu.

In the composition window, you can select the specific Kanji for the word by pressing SPACEBAR. If you press SPACEBAR twice, a list of Kanji that have the same pronunciation is displayed. You can select a specific Kanji from the list by selecting the appropriate Kanji, and pressing ENTER.

Additional Editing Information

Character Metrics in the IME

The input method defaults to Full-width Hiragana. To choose another input method, click the left-most button on the floating IME toolbar. The input methods are listed from top to bottom as follows:
  • Full-width Hiragana
  • Full-width Katakana
  • Full-width Alphanumeric
  • Half-width Katakana
  • Half-width Alphanumeric
  • Direct
Phonetic Editing with the English Keyboard

To type Japanese characters on an English keyboard, you must type each character phonetically. For example, the Japanese character that sounds like "KA" would be typed as KA. In addition, text typed in this manner is not a part of the body of the e-mail message until you press ENTER key.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/9/2004
Keywords:kbdownload kbinfo KB308557