Non-Latin or accented characters are displayed incorrectly in emails

Problem:

When you send an email with non-Latin or accented characters in its subject and/or body, the characters are not displayed correctly for your recipient, but instead are shown as a series of question marks, incorrect symbols, etc.

Solution:

The problem with displaying non-standard characters incorrectly is most likely related to incorrect encoding/charset settings in your Microsoft 365 tenant or email client (e.g. Outlook). To eliminate it, you need to force UTF-8 encoding, which is the most universal & comprehensive character encoding standard that covers majority of non-Latin alphabets, including Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, or Arabic.

Depending on the scope of users affected by the problem in your organization, choose the method that suits you best:

• Globally set UTF-8 encoding for remote domain(s) in Microsoft 365
• Globally set UTF-8 encoding in Outlook apps
• Individually set UTF-8 encoding in an email client (Outlook for Windows / Mozilla Thunderbird)
• Troubleshooting steps for recipients (Outlook for Windows only)

Globally set UTF-8 encoding for remote domain(s)

In the Exchange admin center (EAC), you can define settings related to transferring messages between your Exchange system and domains outside your Exchange organization, including the character set (encoding).

To set a specific encoding for remote domain(s), follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Exchange admin center with your admin credentials.
2. Go to Mail flow > Remote domains.
3. To access the character set settings for all remote domains, click Default on the list and Edit text and character set in the pane that opens (Fig. 1.).

   Tip

   If non-standard characters display incorrectly for recipients in a specific domain only, it might be a better idea to add this domain to the list (using the Add a remote domain button). In the 4th step of the domain adding wizard (Text and character set), you can set UTF-8 encoding similar to the step 4 below.

Fig. 1. Accessing remote domain encoding settings in EAC.

4. Under Supported Character Set, choose Unicode (UTF-8) using each of the two drop-down lists, and click Save to apply your changes (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Setting the UTF-8 encoding for domains outside your Exchange organization.

Now, the UTF-8 encoding should be applied to all emails sent to remote domain(s), and all the characters should be displayed correctly.

If you still experience the problem, continue to the sections below. Since email app (Outlook) settings take precedence over remote domain settings, you can also try to change the encoding setting globally or individually at the email client level.

Globally set UTF-8 encoding in Outlook apps

Using the instructions from this section, you can set UTF-8 encoding for all your users (Outlook on the web/OWA) or any scope of users (Outlook for Windows). Click a link below to see configuration steps for a selected email app:

• Outlook on the web (OWA)
• Outlook for Windows

Set UTF-8 encoding globally in Outlook on the web (OWA)

This method works both in the on-premises and cloud environments.

1. Launch Exchange Management Shell on your Mailbox on-prem server, or open Windows PowerShell and connect to Exchange Online, as outlined here.
2. Run the following cmdlet:

   Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity <policy-name> -OutboundCharset AlwaysUTF8

   replacing <policy-name> with the name of the OWA policy. UTF-8 will be set as the default encoding in OWA for all your users.

   Tip

   To get the exact name of the OWA policy, you can use the Get-OwaMailboxPolicy cmdlet.

3. If you connected to Exchange Online, remember to disconnect from it by using the following cmdlet:

   Disconnect-ExchangeOnline

Set UTF-8 encoding globally in Outlook for Windows

In case of Outlook for Windows, you can globally set the UTF-8 encoding using either of the following two methods:

• Intune (the Microsoft Intune admin center)
• GPO (Group Policy Object)

Intune

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center.
2. Go to Devices > Configuration profiles and click Create profile (Fig. 3.).

Fig. 3. Accessing the configuration profile creation settings in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center.

3. From the Platform and Profile type drop-down menus, choose Windows 10 and later and Templates, respectively. Next, select Administrative Templates under Template name, and click Create to add a new configuration profile (Fig. 4.).

Fig. 4. Choosing the right settings template for Outlook for Windows.

4. Now, configure the profile settings. In the Basics step, provide profile name (mandatory) and description (Fig. 5.). Click Next to proceed.

Fig. 5. Configuring basic profile settings.

5. Next, select User Configuration from the left-hand menu and type Encoding for outgoing messages in the search box – there are two settings that you’ll need to modify, as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. Finding the appropriate settings from the User Configuration group.

6. Click the first setting (Auto-select encoding for outgoing messages). In the pane that opens, select Disabled and click OK (Fig. 7.).

Fig. 7. Globally preventing users’ Outlooks from auto-selecting encoding (Intune).

7. Next, click the second setting (Encoding for outgoing messages). In the pane that opens, click Enabled, select Unicode (UTF-8) from the list, and click OK (Fig. 8.).

Fig. 8. Globally setting UTF-8 as the preferred encoding for outgoing messages (Intune).

8. Configure scope tags and assignments (scope of users) according to your needs and create your Intune policy. As soon as the policy propagates, the new encoding settings will apply to all the users for whom you've assigned it.

GPO

1. Sign in to your domain controller.
2. Run the Group Policy Management Console as an admin (type gpmc.msc in the Start menu).
3. Right-click the relevant domain (or organizational unit) and choose Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here (Fig. 9.).

Fig. 9. Creating a new GPO to globally enable the UTF-8 encoding.

4. In the New GPO window that opens, name your policy object the way you like and click OK (Fig. 10.).

Fig. 10. Naming the Group Policy Object (GPO).

5. Right-click your newly-created GPO and select Edit (Fig. 11.).

Fig. 11. Opening the GPO for editing.

6. When the Group Policy Management Editor opens, go to User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Registry in the left-hand navigation pane. Next, right-click Registry and select New > Registry Item (Fig. 12.).

Fig. 12. Creating a new registry item in the Group Policy Management Editor.

7. Configure the settings for a new registry item, as shown in Fig. 13.:
   • Action: Update
   • Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   • Key Path: Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Options\MSHTML\International\
   • Value Name: Autodetect_CodePageOut
   • Value Type: REG_DWORD
   • Value Data: 0
   • Base: Decimal

Fig. 13. Globally preventing users’ Outlooks from auto-selecting encoding (GPO).

8. Click Apply and OK to apply your changes and close the configuration window.
9. Create one more registry item by right-clicking Registry > Registry Item and configure the settings as follows (Fig. 14.):
   • Action: Update
   • Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   • Key Path: Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Options\MSHTML\International\
   • Value Name: Default_CodePageOut
   • Value Type: REG_DWORD
   • Value Data: 65001
   • Base: Decimal

Fig. 14. Globally setting UTF-8 as the preferred encoding for outgoing messages (GPO).

10. Click Apply and OK to apply your changes and close the configuration window. As soon as the GPO propagates, the new encoding settings will apply to all the users in the domain (or organizational unit) you specified in step 3.

Individually set UTF-8 encoding in an email client

The instructions below show how to configure UTF-8 encoding locally in an email app of your choice. You might find these instructions helpful if the problem affects only a few users in your organization. Click a link below to see the steps to complete for:

• Outlook for Windows
• Mozilla Thunderbird

Set UTF-8 encoding in Outlook for Windows

1. Click File > Options and go to the Advanced tab.
2. In the International options section, uncheck Automatically select encoding for outgoing messages and from Preferred encoding for outgoing messages select Unicode (UTF-8), as shown in Fig. 15.

Fig. 15. Correct encoding configuration in Outlook for Windows.

Set UTF-8 encoding in Mozilla Thunderbird

1. Click Tools on the menu bar and choose Settings (alternatively, click the cogwheel icon in the pane on the very left-hand side).
2. Click General in the navigation pane on the left, scroll down to the very bottom, and click the Config Editor button (Fig. 16.).

Fig. 16. Accessing Config Editor in Mozilla Thunderbird.

3. In the search box, type mail.strictly_mime (Fig. 17., item 1). Change the setting from false to true for the mail.strictly_mime option by using the toggle switch (Fig. 17., item 2).

Fig. 17. Changing the setting for the mail.strictly_mime option.

4. Close the Advanced Preferences and Settings tabs.

Troubleshooting steps for recipients (Outlook for Windows only)

If, despite setting the UTF-8 encoding as outlined above in this article, emails sent by your end users are still displayed incorrectly on your recipients end, you might ask them to complete the following steps in Outlook for Windows:

1. Double-click the affected email to open it in a separate window.
2. Click the Move More Actions icon (in the Move group on the ribbon), go to Other Actions > Encoding, and choose the encoding that fits the sender’s language (Fig. 18.).

   Tip

   If you can’t see the correct encoding on the list, click More (see Fig. 18.) and choose the most adequate option.

Fig. 18. Changing the encoding of a received email to make it display correctly.

See also:

• How to set proper text direction for right-to-left languages