Chinese characters in calendar/meeting updates

Question

Hi

when I update a meeting invitation, the subsequent update is sent out to attendees with a load of what appears to be Chinese characters in the body of the message. What is the problem please? And what the solution?

Regards

Sina

Answer 1

This could be due to a few common reasons:

Possible Causes

1. Encoding Problems: If there's a problem with how your email application or server handles character encoding, it could result in garbled text.
2. Email Client Issues: A bug in your email client or a third-party plugin could be causing this behavior.
3. Corrupted Meeting Data: If the meeting invitation data is corrupted, it might be causing unexpected characters to appear.
4. Third-Party Integrations: Sometimes, integrations with other applications or plugins can cause issues with meeting invitations.

Solutions

To resolve the problem, consider the following steps:

1) Check Email Client Updates:

• Ensure your email client (like Outlook, Gmail, or others) is updated to the latest version. Sometimes, these issues are resolved through software updates.

2)Check Encoding Settings:

Review your email client's encoding settings. It should generally be set to UTF-8 or a similar standard encoding to avoid garbled text.

3)Try Sending From a Different Client:

If possible, try sending the meeting invitation from a different email client or device. This can help determine if the problem is with your client or system.

4)Remove Third-Party Plugins:

If you use third-party plugins or add-ons with your email client, try disabling them to see if the problem persists.

5)Recreate the Meeting Invitation:

Delete the existing meeting invitation and create a new one from scratch. This can help if the original invitation data is corrupted.

6)Clear Email Client Cache:

Clear the cache or reset your email client settings. This can help fix any underlying issues causing the encoding problems.

7)Contact Support:

If none of the above solutions work, contact your email client's technical support or IT team. They can help diagnose the issue and provide specific guidance.

Consider starting with these steps, and if the problem persists, look into specialized support based on your email client or the specific system you're using.

Next Steps

a. If your email client has a community forum or support center, consider asking if others have encountered similar issues.

b. Check if there's a specific error code or log file associated with this problem to help diagnose it further.

c. If you're using a business account, consult with your IT team to ensure that it's not a broader system-related issue. This could be due to a few common reasons:

Answer 2

Hi @SSN ,

Please uncheck the “Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support.” from the Control Panel > Region > Administrative > Region Settings.

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Answer 3

For those interested, I had a recurring meeting request like this.

I went to "View Source", and then saved the resulting HTML message. Opening this in a hex editor, I could see that the incorrectly encoded characters are in several XML nodes. Putting those together, I then decoded the 'Chinese characters' using Janis Veinbergs' helpful PowerShell script to 'double-decode' this sequence (from SO here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11546351/what-character-encoding-is-c3-82-c2-bf). What popped out was either UTF-16 (likely) or UTF-32 (unlikely) HTML message for this header.

Hopefully this helps MS solve this problem so we can move towards using UTF-8 everywhere and continuing to use this Windows region checkbox.
Script:

[System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncodings() | % {"$($_.CodePage) $($_.Name): " + [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString( [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncoding($_.CodePage).GetBytes([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString((0xE6, 0xA0, 0xBC, 0xE6, 0xB5, 0xB4, 0xE2, 0x81, 0xAC, 0xE6, 0xB5, 0xB8, 0xE6, 0xB9, 0xAC, 0xE3, 0xA9, 0xB3, 0xE3, 0xB5, 0xB6, 0xE7, 0x94, 0xA2, 0xE6, 0xB9, 0xB2, 0xE7, 0x8C, 0xBA, 0xE6, 0xA1, 0xA3, 0xE6, 0xB5, 0xA5, 0xE7, 0x8D,

<snipped for brevity>

0xA5, 0xE6, 0xA5, 0xB4, 0xE6, 0xB9, 0xAF, 0xE4, 0xB0, 0xA0, 0xE6, 0x8D, 0xAF, 0xE6, 0x95, 0xAB, 0xE3, 0xB5, 0xA4))) ) }

HTML Message

1200 utf-16: <html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15"><meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 15"><link rel=File-List href="cid:filelist.xml@01DB4700.6B9B6600"><link rel=Edit-Time-Data href="cid:editdata.mso"><!--[if !mso]><style>v:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><link rel=themeData href="themedata"><link rel=colorSchemeMapping href="colorschememapping"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:DocumentKind>DocumentEmail</w:DocumentKind> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:EnvelopeVis/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:DoNotExpandShiftReturn/> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false" DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="376"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="index 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked= 12000 utf-32: (same as above)