FIX: Outlook Displays German Umlauts as Question Marks or Weird symbols after sending. (Solved)
If you use Microsoft Outlook to compose emails in German and notice that letters with umlauts such as ä, ö, ü, or other special characters such as ß or £ appear as question marks (???) or other unreadable symbols after sending, read on to learn how you can easily fix this encoding problem.The problem: After an update to Microsoft Office version 2601, all sent Outlook Classic messages that have special or accented characters appear as question marks (???) or other symbols and recipients see garbled text. The problem is known to Microsoft, which I assume is trying to fix it, and it does not appear in the New Outlook.
In this guide you will find four (4) methods to fix Outlook invalid encoding in German umlauts and special characters.
How to Fix Character Encoding in German Umlauts in Outlook Classic emails (Body or Signature).
Method 1. Change Outlook Encoding for Outgoing Messages.
The easiest method to fix the wrong Outlook encoding in German Umlaute, is to change the character encoding in outgoing emails.
1. From the Outlook File menu, click Options.
2. Select Advanced on the left and then on the right scroll down to International options and change the Preferred encoding for outgoing messages to Unicode (UTF-8). *
* Notes: Optionally you can set also the Preferred encoding for vCards to Unicode (UTF-8).
3. When done, click OK and restart Outlook.
4. Now, try again to send an email with special or accented characters to yourself or another person.
5. After sending the message, navigate to Sent items folder, open the message you sent, and check if all special characters appear normally.*
* Note: If not, repeat the same steps but this time set the encoding for outgoing messages to Western European (ISO). Then restart Outlook and send a message with umlaute characters again to see if the problem is fixed.
Method 2. Prevent Outlook settings from being saved to the Cloud.
Sometimes, when using Outlook for Microsoft 365 with cloud mailboxes, the unreadable umlaute characters issue appears when Outlook settings are stored in the cloud.* To see if this cause the mentioned issue, do the following:
* Info: The "Store my Outlook settings in the cloud" feature in Outlook for desktop saves your Microsoft Outlook settings and preferences to your cloud account, allowing them to be automatically synced across all your installations of Outlook on every Windows device you use.
1. From the Outlook File menu, click Options.
2. In Advanced options under Cloud storage options, uncheck the setting "Store my Outlook settings in the cloud (requires restarting Outlook)" and click OK.
3. Restart Outlook and send a message with umlaute characters again.
Method 3. Enable UTF-8 support in Windows Language & Region Settings.
Since sometimes the mentioned issue, is occurred when the UTF-8 is not enabled in language settings, do the following:
1. Navigate to Start > Settings > Time & Language > Language and Region and click on Windows Display Language.
2. Set the Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support switch to On.*
* Notes:
1. In Windows 10/11, you can also find this option by going to Control Panel > Region and on the Administrative tab, click Change system locale.
2. If, after doing the above, the problem still persists, see the Additional Help section at the end of this article.
Method 4. Revert to a Previous Version of Microsoft Office.
Since the encoding issue occured after updating to Office version 2601 (Build 19628.20150), do the following to revert to the prior version:
1. Close all Microsoft Office programs.
2. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and execute the following command:
- "%programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\officec2rclient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.19530.20184
3. After installing the previous version, open Outlook, send a message with German umlauts characters, and check if the issue is resolved.
Method 5. Use Outlook Web Access (OWA) or New Outlook.
Since the aforementioned issue does not occur in the new Outlook or Outlook on the web, you can use these workarounds for your mail until Microsoft fixes the issue with a newer update of Microsoft Office.
- To open Outlook on the Web (OWA), navigate to https://outlook.office.com/ and login with you MS account credentials.
- To use Outlook New as your email program, drag the "Try the new Outlook" switch to On.
Additional Help for Exchange Admins: Change Character Encoding for Outgoing Messages to UTF-8 in Exchange Admin Center.
If, after applying the steps in Method 1 above, the issue persists, also set the character encoding to Unicode (UTF-8) for messages sent by users in your organization, through the Exchange admin center. To do that:
1. Login to Exchange admin center with your admin credentials.
2. Navigate to Mail flow > Remote Domains.
3. Click on Default and then click Edit text and character set.
4. In the Supported Character set section, set both MIME and non-MIME character sets to Unicode (UTF-8) and click Save.
Summary.
When German umlauts or special characters appear as question marks in Outlook after sending an email, the main reason is that you are not using UTF-8 encoding for your outgoing messages. However, with the instructions in this guide, you will easily fix the problem.
That's it! Which method worked for you?
Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do special characters in Outlook emails appear as question marks?
After an update to Microsoft Office version 2601, special characters in Outlook Classic emails, such as umlauts and accented letters, may appear as question marks or other symbols due to encoding issues.
How can I fix character encoding issues in Outlook Classic for German umlauts?
You can fix these issues by changing the encoding for outgoing messages to Unicode (UTF-8) or Western European (ISO) in the Outlook settings, ensuring that your Outlook settings aren't saved in the cloud, enabling UTF-8 support in Windows Language & Region settings, reverting to a previous version of Microsoft Office, or using Outlook Web Access.
What is the simplest method to fix encoding problems in Outlook emails?
The simplest method is to change the character encoding of outgoing emails to Unicode (UTF-8) by accessing the International options under the Advanced section in Outlook's settings.
What should I do if the encoding issue persists after trying multiple methods?
If the issue persists, you may need to check additional resources or support as mentioned in the Additional Help section of the original guide.
