East asian Language characters in the Subject Line of E-Mail Message Appear As Question Marks

SUMMARY

East asian Language characters in the Subject line of a Microsoft Outlook e-mai...

East asian Language characters in the Subject line of a Microsoft Outlook e-mail message may appear as question marks when the e-mail message is received. This problem may occur with any characters from a double-byte character set (DBCS).

CAUSE

The Subject line in Outlook relies on the character set defined by the operatin...

The Subject line in Outlook relies on the character set defined by the operating system on the client computer. To display Japanese characters in the Subject line of an e-mail message, your operating system must support Japanese.

NOTE: Windows 2000 and Windows XP are currently the only English-language Microsoft operating systems that support double-byte character sets. Outlook cannot display Japanese or Chinese characters in the Subject line of an Outlook e-mail message on the English-language versions of Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98 operating system.

To display Japanese or Chinese characters in the Subject line of Outlook e-mail messages, install the appropriate language support files on Windows 2000 or Windows XP, and then set Japanese or Chinese as the default language for the operating system of the client computer. To install the Japanese or Chinese language support files and set Japanese or Chinese as the default language, use one of the following methods.

How to Enable Japanese Support In Windows 2000

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Regional Options icon.
3. In the Regional Options dialog box, click to select the Japanese check box.
4. Click the Set default button.
5. In the Select System Local dialog box, click Japanese, and then click OK.
6. In the Regional Options dialog box, click Apply.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes:
   Required files are already installed on your hard disk. Setup can use these existing files, or Setup can recopy them from your original Windows CD-ROM or from a network share.
   
   Would you like to skip the file copying and use the existing files? (If you click No, you will be prompted to insert your Windows CD-ROM or to supply a different location where the files can be found.)
8. When you are prompted to restart your computer, click Yes.

How to Enable Japanese Support In Windows XP

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Regional and Language Options icon.
3. On the Languages tab, click to select the Install files for East Asian languages check box.
4. When you receive the following message, click OK:
   You chose to install the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language files. This will require 230 MB or more of available disk space. The files will be installed after you click OK or Apply on the Regional and Language Options dialog box.
5. On the Advanced tab, click Japanese under the Language for non-Unicode programs section.
6. Click to select the Apply all settings to the current user account and to the default user profile check box.
7. When you receive the following message, click OK:
   You chose to apply these settings to the default user profile. These changes will affect the logon screen and all new user accounts. Some system services may require you to restart your computer before the changes will take effect.
8. In the Regional and Language Options dialog box, click Apply.
9. When you receive the following message, click Yes:
   The required files are already installed on your hard disk. Setup can use these files, or Setup can recopy them from your original Windows CD-ROM or from a network share.
   
   Would you like to skip the file copying and use the existing files? (If you click No, you will be prompted to insert your Windows CD-ROM or to supply a different location where the files can be found.)
10. Click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.

How to Enable Chinese Support In Windows XP/Windows 2003

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Regional and Language Options icon.
3. On the Languages tab, click to select the Install files for East Asian languages check box.
4. When you receive the following message, click OK: You chose to install the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language files. This will require 230 MB or more of available disk space. The files will be installed after you click OK or Apply on the Regional and Language Options dialog box.
5. On the Advanced tab, click Chinese under the Language for non-Unicode programs section.
6. Click to select the Apply all settings to the current user account and to the default user profile check box.
7. When you receive the following message, click OK: You chose to apply these settings to the default user profile. These changes will affect the logon screen and all new user accounts. Some system services may require you to restart your computer before the changes will take effect.
8. In the Regional and Language Options dialog box, click Apply.
9. When you receive the following message, click Yes: The required files are already installed on your hard disk. Setup can use these files, or Setup can recopy them from your original Windows CD-ROM or from a network share. Would you like to skip the file copying and use the existing files? (If you click No, you will be prompted to insert your Windows CD-ROM or to supply a different location where the files can be found.)
10. Click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.

Relevant RFCs: RFC 1554, 2237, 1468, 1815, 1922, 1556, 1557, 1522, 2821, 2822

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition, when used with:
• the operating system: Microsoft Windows XP
• the operating system: Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

Keywords:

kbinfo KB324603