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Outlook to Exchange strange characters

Hans Elmer 1 Reputation point
2020-10-03T06:34:24.137+00:00

I have a Win 7-client with Outlook 2010.
From a 3.rd party software I create emails in Outlook to send out.

When the email is shown in Outlook (before it is sent out) it shows strange characters.
The email-profile in Outlook is set up to an Exchange server (Microsoft 365). The datafile runs in Unicode to the Exchange-server.
The problem occurs only on the Exchange-Outlook-profile.

However, if I create an extra email-profile in the same Outlook, but running pop or imap to another mail-supplier - then the email will be created in Outlook with the right formatting!!!

All settings in Outlook in the 2 profiles are the same, UTF-8 etc.

Anyone who knows what to look for so the mail created in the Exchange-profile will show the right formatting?

(The problem occurs on multiple clients no matter if the Exchange-profile is created before or after the imap/pop-profile)

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Outlook Management
Outlook: A family of Microsoft email and calendar products.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. JeffYang-MSFT 6,241 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2020-10-05T14:09:57.087+00:00

    Hi @Hans Elmer ,

    From a 3.rd party software I create emails in Outlook to send out. When the email is shown in Outlook (before it is sent out) it shows strange characters.
    The problem occurs only on the Exchange-Outlook-profile. But running pop or imap to another mail-supplier - then the email will be created in Outlook with the right formatting!!!

    Does this issue only occur with this specific Exchange account? It is suggested to test with other Exchange account and see if there is any differences.
    Besides, can this issue be reproduced if you add your Exchange account to your Imap/pop-profile?

    Considering that this issue happens before message were sent out, so it seems that this issue might not be related to the Mail Transfer Protocol in different account types. As I know, add-ins in Exchanges account will be synced to all Outlook clients and there could be some add-ins which may cause issues like this, so it is suggested to start your Outlook in safe mode (Press Win + R, type “outlook /safe”, press Enter.) and see if the issue continues.

    Any update, please feel free to post back.

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  2. JeffYang-MSFT 6,241 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2020-10-11T04:41:54.937+00:00

    Hi @Hans Elmer ,
    Thanks for your reply.
    I did some search about your issue but have not found any document which could help explain your issue. As I mentioned before, different account types (such as Exchange or IMAP) will only influence the process of sending and receiving emails, different transmission protocols or different synchronization content and something else. But it will not influence your local email editing on the Outlook desktop client. Therefore, personally, I still think your issue might be related to this software itself or other local settings.

    Since you have mentioned that the problem only occurs when the profile is connected to the Exchange server (Office 365), then how everything will be going if you add an Exchange account to an IMAP/POP profile? Will the issue be reproduced as well?

    In addition, is this a problem that has only recently occurred? Had it happened before? If the same problem had already existed long before, I'm afraid that it might be related to this software itself, please try to contact with its support and see if you could get more information.

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  3. hans 1 Reputation point
    2020-10-14T06:55:31.553+00:00

    Hi Jeff

    Imagine you install Outlook.
    Then you add a pop or imap-account inside that Outlook.
    When you create emails in Outlook (from a 3rd party software) everything looks fine - the email comes up with the right formatting and everything.

    Now you add an extra account in Outlook - or profile as its called. This is an Exchange-account (Outlook 365/Microsoft 365).
    You dont change anything inside that same Outlook - you only tell Outlook that the Exchange account is now the default!
    Now when you create emails from the same 3rd party software now the formatting doesn't work!
    The email-text and everything is actually the same that is sent from the 3.rd party software.

    It seems like Outlook uses one kind of "connection"/"Middleware" to accept the email-settings when data is supposed to get inside Outlook to an imap or pop-email-account and then some other middleware when it's supposed to be sent out from an Exchange!

    (A workaround could be to have both a pop/imap-account AND an Exchage account at the same time but Outlook dont allow to have more accounts when the preferred one is Exchange! - then I could just import/create the email under the pop-account and then switch the outgoing account to Exchange (keeping the formatting) but this is not possible).

    Any ideas what to look for or change? I belive personally it is related to the Unicode-settings from Outlook to Exchange but cant be sure - perhaps its just som registration-settings that has to be changed in the reg-database. The problems are om´n multiple machines and versions of Outlook

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  4. JeffYang-MSFT 6,241 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2020-10-17T10:03:18.907+00:00

    Hi @Hans Elmer @hans ,
    Thanks for your update.
    Well, I can fully understand your issue. However, I indeed could not found any information about the Unicode-settings from Outlook to Exchange you mentioned.

    A workaround could be to have both a pop/imap-account AND an Exchage account at the same time

    As I know, when adding an Exchange account to Outlook client, Outlook will automatically set the data file of the Exchange account as the default. Could the problem be related to this? To confirm this, it is suggested to set your IMAP or POP accounts and their data files as default(File > Account Settings > Account settings) and see whether the problem could be solved. This thread could help you about setting other data files as default: Outlook 2019 Default Data File Error (PST/OST)

    Hope this can be helpful.

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