Chinese characters in an English email subject line

[GDC]

I have a user who sends internet e-mail in English and sometimes her subject
line changes to Chinese characters. When I check the Options I get the
following:

This is the actual subject line: FW: 浅楡l
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: application/ms-tnef;
name="winmail.dat"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Subject: =?iso-2022-jp?B?Rlc6IBskQkB1XEAbKEJs?=


I had her foward me the message from her Sent Mail and again checked the
options and get the following:

This is the actual subject line: FW: Email

Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: application/ms-tnef;
name="winmail.dat"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Subject: FW: Email


I don't believe it is a server issue as it is only happening to one user. I
sent a test e-mail to the external address and it showed up fine. I'm
thinking it is something my user has chagned in her settings. I've had her
compare the settings to mine and they look fine, but I don't know where else
to look.

Any help is appreciated

G

 

[Pat Willener]

The Subject line is encoded as Japanese JIS, so whatever you user puts
in there, it will end up as random Japanese characters.

Now you will need to tell us a little bit more, especially what version
of Outlook, and other information that could explain this multi-language
behavior. E.g. Tools | Options | tab Mail Format | International Options
| Preferred encoding for outgoing messages.

 

[GDC]

Good morning Pat

Thank you for your response. The Outlook client is 2003 SP3 and the Mail
Options area as follows:


International Options:

- Auto select encoding for outgoing messages
- Prefered encoding for outgoing messages is Auto Select (Western Eurpoean
ISO)

Fonts:

- Auto display Rich text in Draft Font when using High contrast is selected.
- Font is Arial 10
- Stationary Fonts area is set to use the font specified in Stationary (if
specified)
- There is no stationary definded though

International Fonts:

- Western European
- Proportional Font Arial
- Fixed Font Courier New

Hope this helps and I look forward to your reply

Regards,
George

 

[Pat Willener]

Can you try to uncheck 'Auto select encoding for outgoing messages';
this may (or may not) be responsible for the Japanese encoding of the
'Subject' line.

Can you also check messages that arrive with Japanese encoding in the
'Subject' line if the headers contain a line similar to this:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-2022-jp"

 

[GDC]

Good morning Pat

Thanks again for your reply. I made the change you suggested and had the
user send a test message. Below is the subject format from the receipents
reply.

This is the actual subject: RE: 浅楡â¬æ¡£æ¥k


The is the view under Options:

Subject: =?utf-8?B?UkU6IOa1healoeKBrOaho+aNpWs=?=

George

 

[GDC]

One thing I forgot Pat

This only happens to Internet outbound messages. Her inbound mail is fine.

George

 

[Pat Willener]

Well, this is really giving me some difficulties. First the Subject line
is encoded in Japanese, now in Unicode.

What is the general encoding of the outgoing message (Format | Encoding)?

P.S. this *is* the English version of Outlook 2003?

 

[GDC]

When I open the message it and look at the encoding it is set to auto select.
Yes the Outlook client is English 2003. All our clients are set to use Word
2003 to edit text and to compose in HTML format as well.

G

 

[Pat Willener]

If you send a test message, with what actual encoding does it arrive
(sent with auto select)?

 

[GDC]

Good morning Pat

I sent a test message this morning from my own e-mail account. Below are
the results in the Options window:

Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/related;
boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C83D98.B37248EE";
type="multipart/alternative"
Subject: testing
X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.5.6944.0

I also checked the enoding on the incoming message and it is set to auto
select. My Outlook settings are the same as the user in question.

Regards,
G

 

[Pat Willener]

This is very confusing; no 'charset' indication in the 'Content-Type'
header, but an encoding in the 'Subject' header. This is something I
have simply never seen.

I will perform a few tests with my Outlook 2003, then post back.

B.t.w. - what service level is that Outlook - SP3?

 

[GDC]

Yes SP3 on all machines. Thanks for taking the time to test

G

 

[Pat Willener]

I am soon at the end of my wits...

What happens if you send a message with a fixed encoding (not
automatic), e.g. as Western European? Does the Subject line still get
encoded as Japanese or Unicode?

 

[GDC]

That is how I sent the second test message from my users computer.

G