How to Decode Symbols Sent Accidentally Through a Text

You can swiftly decode the odd symbols on your plain text emails.

When you use Outlook Express or Thunderbird email and planner applications, plain text emails you receive may display odd symbols and characters that have no meaning. These symbols originate from CR, LF and CRLF encoding, which are used to denote the end of a line of text in emails using plain text. (They stand for "carriage return," "left flush" and "carriage return left flush; the carriage is the piece of a typewriter that you had to return to the left side to keep typing when you reached the end of a line.) These encoding types are called "nonprintable" because they aren't suppose to be displayed with the text of the email. Symbols may displayed due to encoding errors originating from the person sending you the text or from older email software that confuses the encoding. You can decode the message by changing your message encoding.

Instructions

Outlook Express

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook Express.

2. Click on the "Tools" tab on the top left side of the window. Select "Options" from the drop-down menu.

3. Click the "Send" tab on the "Options" window. Click the "Plain Text Settings" option displayed beneath where it says "Mail Sending Format." The "Plain Text Settings" dialog box will display.

4. Click the check-box displayed beside the word "Mime" if it's not checked. Click the drop-down menu displayed beside where it says "Encode text using" and select "None." Click "OK" to save the changes. The symbols on the email will now be decoded. If the symbols were supposed to be nonprintable, which is usually the case, you will see only the plain text.

Thunderbird

1. Launch Thunderbird by double-clicking its corresponding icon on your desktop.

2. Click the "Tools" tab on the upper region of the window and select the "Options" preference from the menu.

3. Click the "Compositions" tab displayed on the top region of the "Options" dialog box.

4. Click to uncheck the check-box beside the words "For messages that contain 8-bit character, use 'quoted printable' MIME encoding." Click the "OK" tab. The symbols displayed on the text you received should be decoded.

Tips & Warnings

• Some symbols in emails, particularly those from friends, might be "emoticons" rather than coding errors. The Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines an emoticon as "a group of keyboard characters that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications." The following is an emoticon consisting of eyes, a nose and a mouth: :-). Here's one with a big nose, twinkling eyes and big smile: =0D

References

• Ask-Leo: Why Does My Email Sometimes Show Up With Funny Characters Like "=0D" In It?
• Tech Help: Decoding Internet Attachments; Michael Santovec