(Mis-)Representation of special characters (umlaut) in e-mail/attachments
Thread poster: heikeb
heikeb
heikeb  Identity Verified
Member (2003)
English to German
+ ...
May 15, 2003

After sending an invoice as Word rtf attachment to a German client (I\'m in the US), I was told that it consisted of hieroglyphs. I used my browser and my e-mail account on the server. According to my brother\'s advice, I used Outlook and everything seems to work fine. However, some (but, of course, not all) messages that were perfect in the browser now have the replaced characters in Outlook.

Is there any consistency with this phenomenon, or do I just have to live with the fact that i
... See more
After sending an invoice as Word rtf attachment to a German client (I\'m in the US), I was told that it consisted of hieroglyphs. I used my browser and my e-mail account on the server. According to my brother\'s advice, I used Outlook and everything seems to work fine. However, some (but, of course, not all) messages that were perfect in the browser now have the replaced characters in Outlook.

Is there any consistency with this phenomenon, or do I just have to live with the fact that it could go either way?



TIA



Heike
Collapse


 
Laura Gentili
Laura Gentili  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 11:48
Member (2003)
English to Italian
+ ...
Try to send it in .doc, not RTF May 15, 2003

It happened to me once, my customer asked to send it in .doc instead of RTF and it was fine.

Laura



[ This Message was edited by: Laura G. on 2003-05-15 18:46]


 
William Stein
William Stein  Identity Verified
Costa Rica
Local time: 03:48
French to English
+ ...
Varies from country to country May 15, 2003

Unfortunately, a lot still depends on the recipient\'s e-mail system, since the character codes haven\'t been standardized in all countries and all systems yet.

 
Rossana Triaca
Rossana Triaca  Identity Verified
Uruguay
Local time: 06:48
English to Spanish
To avoid such problems... May 16, 2003

it´s better to use .pdf files for invoices (plus, they can´t be changed - well, at least easily). That way you make sure they always look the way you see them in your computer (that´s hardly the case with .doc or .rtf files).



 
heikeb
heikeb  Identity Verified
Member (2003)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for the feedback May 16, 2003

Thanks to everyone!

I\'ll check out tools to create pdf files tomorrow and try to avoid rtf files in the future.





 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Laureana Pavon[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

(Mis-)Representation of special characters (umlaut) in e-mail/attachments






TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »
CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »