Default Russian encoding

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Level 1

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Default Russian encoding

I've been using Leopard since it came out, but this one lack of feature is driving me nuts. What I need to be able to do is to be sure that any letter I send out in Russian (whether new, a reply or forwarded) is sent in KOI8-R encoding.
It used to be that by issuing the following command:
"defaults write com.apple.mail NSPreferredMailCharset koi8-r"

All email would use that encoding. But whenever I perform a reply or forward, it seems to default to UTF-8. Which may be OK for the recipient, but I can't even read what I sent out then. It's all wacked-out characters.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a new way to get Mail to default to a specific character set.

Thanks!

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Aug 25, 2008 2:43 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,216 points

Aug 25, 2008 3:17 PM in response to cavaughan

I can't even read what I sent out then. It's all wacked-out characters.

You should be able to read things regardless of their encoding. Could you send me a reply or forward so I can check what is happening (tom at bluesky dot org)? Do your new messages still go out in KOI8-R ok?

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Answer 2

cavaughan Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 25, 2008 3:33 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I should have edited my original post. Right after I posted it I realized I could read my Sent messages. Sorry about that.

Now, if I create a new message and send it, it is in KOI8-R. But if I forward a message, it gets converted to UTF-8.

Here's another thing. If I take a message and choose to encode it in KOI8-R through the menus, when I try to send it, it tells me something to the effect that the encoding is wrong and gives me the option to edit the letter. Apparently, it won't let me send a letter in KOI8-R if it has any other font that is not in Russian

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,216 points

Aug 25, 2008 4:06 PM in response to cavaughan

Apparently, it won't let me send a letter in KOI8-R if it has any other font that is not in Russian

You may be trying to send characters in your message that koi8-r does not support, like curly punctuation. Here is a chart of what you can send.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KOI8-R

Also try making sure your message is Plain Text. I think HTML messages could also contain formatting characters that koi8-r does not support.

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