Troubleshoot Unicode-related problems

There could be several reasons why Microsoft Outlook is still not running in Unicode mode.

• If your profile was configured to run in offline mode before you upgraded to Office Outlook 2003, you are still using the old Offline Folder file (.ost) that does not support Unicode, and this will result in Outlook running in non-Unicode mode on the Microsoft Exchange server. To switch to Unicode mode, disable the use of offline folders, then create a new Offline Folder file (.ost) and synchronize your data.
• If your profile was configured to deliver to a Personal Folders file (.pst) before you upgraded to Office Outlook 2003, you are still using the old Personal Folders file (.pst) that does not support Unicode, and this will result in Outlook running in non-Unicode mode on the Exchange server. To switch to Unicode mode, you should change the delivery location to a Personal Folders file that supports multilingual Unicode data or you should change the default delivery location to the Exchange Server mailbox.
• If your profile was configured to use an AutoArchive Personal Folders file (.pst) before you upgraded to Office Outlook 2003, you are still using the old AutoArchive Personal Folders file (.pst) that does not support Unicode. It is recommended that you create a new AutoArchive Personal Folders file that supports multilingual Unicode data.
• The Exchange Server version or the policies set by your administrator may be preventing Outlook from running in Unicode mode.

If none of the above helped you switch to Unicode mode, contact your Exchange Server administrator.

If your profile was configured to deliver to a Personal Folders file (.pst) before you upgraded to Office Outlook 2003, you are still using the old Personal Folders file (.pst) that does not support Unicode for storing items delivered from the POP3 account. To resolve this, you should change the delivery location to a Personal Folders file (.pst) that supports multilingual Unicode data.

When Microsoft Outlook runs in non-Unicode mode on the Microsoft Exchange server, the code page-based system is used for character mapping. In a code page-based system, a character entered in one language may not map to the same character in another language. Therefore, you are likely to see incorrect characters, including question marks. Additional information on scripts and code pages is available in Outlook Help.

For example, consider two people— one is running the English version of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system with the Latin code page and the second person is running the Japanese version of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system with the Japanese code page. The second person creates a meeting request in the Japanese version of Outlook 2002 and sends it to the first person. When the person using the English version of Outlook 2002 opens the meeting request, the code points of the Japanese code page are mapped to unexpected or nonexistent characters in the Latin script, and the resulting text is unintelligible. Therefore, in multilingual environments, it is recommended that Outlook runs in Unicode mode on the Exchange server.

To resolve this, disable offline folders, close and restart Outlook, and then create a new Offline Folder file and synchronize the data.

If you do not share messages and items with people who use Microsoft Outlook on computers that run in other languages, you can run Outlook in Unicode or non-Unicode mode on a Microsoft Exchange server. A disadvantage of running in non-Unicode mode is that the Offline Folder file used for the profile will be created in the format that does not offer greater storage capacity for items and folders. Therefore, if size limit of the Offline Folder file is a concern for you, then you should run Outlook in Unicode mode on the Exchange server.

However, if you work in a multinational organization or share messages and items with people who use Outlook on systems that run in other languages, Outlook should run in Unicode mode on the Exchange server. This will also ensure that Unicode-capable .pst files are used for the profile that have the capability to store multilingual Unicode data. To switch to Unicode mode, see the I upgraded to Office Outlook 2003, but Outlook is still not running in Unicode mode on the Exchange server. section, above.

When Outlook runs in non-Unicode mode on the Exchange server, the code page-based system is used for character mapping. In a code page-based system, a character entered in one language may not map to the same character in another language and therefore, if Outlook runs in non-Unicode mode on the Exchange server, you are likely to see incorrect characters, including question marks. Additional information on scripts and code pages is available in Outlook Help.

For example, consider two people— one is running the English version of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system with the Latin code page and the second person is running the Japanese version of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system with the Japanese code page. The second person creates a meeting request in the Japanese version of Outlook 2002 and sends it to the first person. When the person using the English version of Outlook 2002 opens the meeting request, the code points of the Japanese code page are mapped to unexpected or nonexistent characters in the Latin script, and the resulting text is unintelligible. Therefore, in multilingual environments, it is recommended that Outlook run in Unicode mode on the Exchange server.

Note  Since Outlook 2000, the body of Outlook items has been Unicode, and the body can be read irrespective of the language in which the item was created. However, Outlook data, such as the To and Subject lines of messages and the ContactName and BusinessTelephoneNumber properties of contact items, will be limited to characters defined by your code page if Outlook runs in non-Unicode against an Exchange server.