Outlook Reading Msg Files and Turning Into Chinese

FAQ: Chinese Characters in Microsoft Outlook

How can I go Chinese characters to display in Microsoft Outlook? On the From, To and Subject area lines I see merely "???", boxes and other garbage characters.

How can I transport an electronic mail attachment with a Chinese filename using Outlook? Either I become an mistake message, or the filename disappears, or the filename turns into garbage characters.

Related FAQ Page: How can I import Chinese contacts from Gmail or a CSV file?

I've had many adventures trying to use Chinese characters in Outlook. Unlike my usual lucent step-by-step instructions, this commodity is more than a history of (or rant well-nigh) what I've survived and what I've learned then far, in 4 short summaries that offer suggestions on what you should — and should not — attempt:

• Bug in each version of Outlook,
• International Options in each version of Outlook,
• why changing the Windows locale won't aid and may make things worse, and
• why language packs are not the solution.

On another FAQ page I explain why Outlook won't merely import Chinese contacts from Gmail or a CSV file and what you lot can do nearly that.

In Outlook 2013 and 2016 Chinese should display with no need for additional setup...merely of grade sometimes it doesn't. I take only used these versions of Outlook in Windows 8 and 10, merely they should behave the same in Windows Vista and 7 too.

Message body text should display in Chinese and "Latin" languages like English correctly in every bulletin with no problem and no additional setup, every bit long equally UTF-8 support is enabled. When exchanging messages just in one type of Chinese characters (GB or Big5), there may be times when you demand to change the encoding for your outgoing messages to ensure they await OK on the receiving end as well. If yous are seeing foreign or incorrect characters where Chinese should exist, encounter the section on Outlook International Options beneath.

The "From", "To" and "Subject" lines by and large work fine for me in the latest versions of Outlook and Windows, as long as I have UTF-8 enabled and occassionally tweak the outgoing message encoding, as explained in the previous paragraph. But fifty-fifty when all of your settings are correct, they can all the same wait like the erstwhile mess you run across in the paradigm to a higher place. Usually the cause is at the sender'southward end, or in the email systems the messages has traveled through. Just if this starts happening to y'all all the fourth dimension in letters from many different sources, and if yous've adjusted your Outlook international options to no avail, you may need to create a new profile in Outlook. Creating a new profile is very close to reinstalling the whole application, so often not worth the trouble, but see my word under Outlook 2007/2010 below for more information on that.

Due east-mail service attachment filenames in Chinese piece of work for me most of the time, but in general it is not a expert idea to apply Chinese in filenames when y'all are sharing them via e-mail. Many e-mail servers and clients out there nonetheless unable to handle them correctly. Eventually something goes wrong, and I'd rather use a file sharing service like Dropbox or Baidu Pan instead. As long as the default UTF-viii support is enabled in Outlook international options, your approachable messages should exist OK from your end. But if Chinese filenames do not display on incoming attachments, every time and from multiple senders, come across my proffer on creating a new Outlook profile in the Outlook 2007/2010 section below.

In Outlook 2007 or 2010 Chinese should display with no demand for additional setup, and problems with language are not necessarily a reason to upgrade. When all else fails, you may first want to endeavour creating a new Outlook "contour".

Message body text, as I said higher up, Chinese should display in every bulletin with no problem and no boosted setup, merely there are times when you need to change the encoding for some or all messages. Often the problem is on the other person'due south calculator, and the two of you air current up in an endless loop of changes trying to fix information technology. It's very frustrating and enough to make me go entirely to webmail. But information technology's worth trying to adjust your regional encoding and Unicode (UTF-viii) settings, as explained in the Outlook International Options section beneath.

The "From", "To" and "Subject field" lines too should be no trouble every bit long equally UTF-8 back up is enabled (come across below), unless those lines were scrambled while going through someone else's machine. But 1 fourth dimension all my Chinese letters looked like the screenshot above, and to be honest my settings were and then tied up in knots the only way I was able to set it was by creating an entirely new and fresh Outlook contour.

Here are Microsoft'south instructions for creating an Outlook profile. Y'all'll have to setup all your accounts and preferences all over once more, simply you tin can import your old post from the old profile'south .pst file, and compared to everything else I'd tried this was the piece of cake way out for me. If you lot have a amend idea, please contact me.

Email attachment filenames should also piece of work fine in Chinese for you lot. If Chinese filenames exercise not display on all incoming attachments, see my new profile thought in the From/To/Subject paragraph above. Only your approachable attachments may also exist a problem — non for you, but for some of the users you correspond with (especially Windows XP users, unless they have followed my instructions below). My best advice is that you lot should not use Chinese filenames in electronic mail attachments unless you are certain all of your correspondents can handle it. Use file sharing services like Box, DropBox, Google Drive, or Baidu Pan instead.

In Windows XP with Outlook 2007 or afterwards, except for the first ii items below (both relating to the e-post bulletin torso) I have not experimented with these problems, and then please contact me if y'all demand some help or if you have some advice you think I should post here.

In Windows XP with Outlook 2003 or earlier, Chinese should display in an Outlook email message body with no trouble if the rest of your system is set upwards for Chinese display. Yet the "From", "To" and "Subject" lines, and attachments with Chinese filenames, are a problem. I'll address all three XP/2003 issues here.

If no message body volition display Chinese, enable East Asian languages in Windows XP. This usually solves the problem, end of discussion.

If only some letters will display Chinese in the bulletin body, that may be considering your correspondents are mixing too many types of Chinese encodings for your version of Outlook to handle. In that case there is often no prepare for this except to ask them to transport yous an attached document instead. But in other cases you tin can change the encoding settings in your Outlook and that may solve the problem. Yous do not need to alter your entire system locale just for this, since you can make this message locale change inside Outlook itself. (I will post instructions on that Outlook encoding settings here soon.)

"From", "To" and "Discipline" Lines are a bigger problem in XP and Outlook 2003. If you're lucky, they display correctly when you open the bulletin even if they are not correct in the inbox. But y'all can alter the locale for Outlook or for the entire system to force all fields to brandish Chinese. Y'all volition and then see Chinese characters in any new messages. Unfortunately this volition not fix sometime letters already in your Outlook folders, only new messages, sorry. Simply earlier y'all go to my instructions on changing the locale, please come across my adventures with English message formatting below!

East-post Attachments with Chinese Filenames are possible in XP/2003 by changing your locale for Outlook or for the unabridged organisation, but I do not recommend this for well-nigh people. First of all, unless y'all and all your correspondents are sending messages under the same locale those filenames will still generate error messages, go blank or plough into garbage characters on your organization or others'. Even if you compress (zip) the file, which Windows will only let yous do when the system is running under a Chinese locale (or with a third-party tool like WinZip), the filename volition go ruined inside the compressed folder anyway.

Secondly, after you change your locale you will find yourself struggling with the problems I am nearly to depict hither unless you work merely in Chinese and will compose no letters in English or other Western languages.

Outlook International Options: Irresolute the Locale and More

Since the release of Outlook 2010, yous can alter the text encoding for all outgoing messages, merely non for just one bulletin, so you may have to call back to change the global settings once again when yous're done. In Outlook 2007, equally I recall y'all could change your linguistic communication encoding for each message individually, or for all messages, and I don't know why nosotros lost that characteristic in later releases.

In Outlook 2013 and 2016, in a message or in the main application window become to the File tab. Select Options, so Advanced. Scroll down to "International Options":

In the image in a higher place, notice that the terminal item in the list is selected: "Permit UTF-viii back up for the mailto: protocol". This is essential when you are communicating in mixed languages with nigh users of the latest globally-compatible operating systems.

Only sometimes yous'll exist communicating with people who are using specific regional settings, and you lot will take to custom-tailor your outgoing messages and vCards to the encoding used on that end. To practise this, select a "preferred encoding for outgoing messages" from the lists here.

Although Unicode UTF-8 and UTF-7 are in that listing, if a Chinese language user is having problem reading your Chinese messages and then the solution is ordinarily to select the Chinese encoding they are using on their system. Oft their unabridged system will exist set to that locale.

If that still doesn't solve the problem in your replies to those recipients, yous may want to turn off "Automatically select encoding for outgoing messages" (and vCards) in example your arrangement is wrongly identifying how to reply.

These settings affect all your outgoing messages. UTF-viii should be no problem and is your default setting in most situations, simply you may have to return the other settings to their defaults when communicating with people in languages other than Chinese.

In Outlook 2010, your International Options are in File tab > Options > Advanced > International options. See my recommendations for Outlook 2013/2016 above. I program to add some screen shots of 2010 here, but the situation is essentially the same as more recent versions.

In Outlook 2007, as I recall we had the selection of changing these settings for a single outgoing message or for all outgoing messages. I don't at present why we lost the selection to alter simply i message starting time with Outlook 2010; that was very convenient.

While composing a message, become to that message'southward Options tab and expand "More options". In the Encoding drop-down card, select the Chinese encoding being used past the person who will receive the message:

To change this setting for all messages, in the primary Outlook window go to Tools > Options > Mail Format tab > International Options every bit shown below. See the department on Outlook 2013/2016 in a higher place for a give-and-take of UTF-8, auto selecing encoding, and specifying a preferred encoding here.

Outlook 2003 and before versions had fewer options. I can't remember much about them other than what I've mentioned in the previous section, only experience costless to ask me almost those and maybe I can help by looking at screen shots of your settings.

What about setting Windows to a Chinese locale?

Changing the Windows organisation locale is, in my stance, not the all-time solution to whatsoever of these Outlook problems, unless you are going to write all your messages in Chinese and never use English language or other Western languages. Post-obit are some of the issues I've encountered while trying to ship English messages while in a Chinese locale.

MS Word is the default east-mail editor for Outlook. Y'all can remove Word equally the editor for Outlook 2003 and earlier, but you cannot remove it from Outlook 2007 or afterward versions! Considering Word is your Outlook e-mail editor, when replying to messages from people who use Western encoding the special characters Word uses for English punctuation (similar "curly quotes") plough into random Chinese characters or question marks!

Yous will not see this happen until subsequently the message is sent, which is really frustrating. Here's a bulletin I actually e-mailed to someone after forgetting about this trouble on a new organisation:

You won't see these bug while editing, or after the message is saved to your Outlook Outbox folder. They but show up afterward y'all cheque on the message in your Sent binder. And of course, they bear witness up in the recipient's Inbox!

If don't desire to turn off Discussion as your editor in Outlook 2002/2003, or if you lot have Outlook 2007 and can't remove Word simply need to work in a Chinese locale, what can you do?

Get-go I tried turning off the AutoCorrect and AutoFormat settings, and this did indeed prevent most of the problems caused by Word'southward fancy quote marks, apostrophes and other special characters. Changing these settings from within Outlook doesn't bear upon Give-and-take when you run information technology alone, simply when it is working as Outlook's editor. In Outlook 2007 get to Tools > Options > Mail Format > Editor Options. So click the Proofing section and the AutoCorrect Options push button. In the AutoCorrect tab turn off "Supplant text as you type", and in the AutoFormat tab turn off all "Replace as you type" options except peradventure the automatic hyperlink feature.

I too set Outlook to compose simply in Apparently Text (Options > Mail Format > Message format drop-downwards menu). Outlook still picks up the sender's formatting when replying, and so I as well advisedly changed all my replies to Plain Text (Options > Format / Plain Text)....but sometimes I forgot to do that, every bit in the next example.

I thought I had turned all the special characters off, but it's hard to judge when you volition still have a problem! In my case it'due south my erstwhile-schoolhouse typing, which includes 2 spaces later on every sentence. They turned into question marks afterward I sent this message:

And then is there are fashion to ready this without irresolute AutoCorrect/AutoFormat, and without remembering to change all replies to Plain Text?

Solutions to using Outlook in a Chinese locale:

I still recommend turning off AutoCorrect and AutoFormat as described above, but when running Outlook nether a Chinese locale the only prophylactic manner I've plant to respond to a message from someone using Western encoding is to either:

• close and reopen Outlook in your Western locale (or switch the Windows system to your Western locale if you changed that),
  or
• manually change Outlook from Western to Chinese encoding, as I discussed above.

Not the best solution, considering somewhen you lot will forget to practise this or something else will go wrong. But it works.

And what About Office Language Packs?

People often ask me if an Office Language Pack or Proofing Tools, or installing a system Language Pack for Win seven/Vista/XP or Windows 8/10 would be a better fashion to solve this trouble.

No. The main characteristic of Language Packs is to turn all the menus and dialogs into Chinese. When you run them, both types of language packs do indeed change the locale, simply as I've shown you can do this without buying anything. And Proofing Tools add together interesting features, more often than not to Word, but also practise nada to help with this.

The same locale bug I described in the previous section will also exist a problem when you reply to messages from people using Western encodings. The main reason I recommend Language Packs at all for non-native speakers of Chinese are for the Proofing Tools, including a pop-up Chinese-English dictionary, simplified/traditional graphic symbol conversion and other features, but more than and more than of those take been given abroad separately in contempo years.

You do not need a Language Pack or Proofing Tools merely to get Chinese characters to display in Outlook.

Questions? Contact me anytime.

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