unicode? non-unicode? Is Outlook 2003 obsolete software?

[Bert_Bert]

Please help me to understand this:

I use Outlook2003+Exchange in OST mode.
I thought my store is in unicode but it rather appears it is not.

I use Czech language and +ěšÄřžýáí characters are kept ok.
But French characters like è are not kept in user defined fields.

As I look in MFCMAPI tool to the Exchange store i can see
1. default field such as Subject being PT_STRING8 and 1 byte corresponds
to one character
2. user defined field has the same PT_STRING8 and 1 byte per 1 character
è being displayed as simple e and coded also by ASC of single e

I would expect something like PT_UNICODE ???

The same problem I have when entering è character from clipboard and also
when importing it usind CDO 1.21 object model.

Please help me to understand what shall I do to turn on UNICODE in Outlook.
Or any hint how this conceptually works. I have read from discussions that I
have to have some flag turned on that the store supports UNICODE but what
shall I do in my case that Outlook supports it ?

It is annoying I thought that in the year 2008 we need not cope with such
stupid basic things that should work automatically.

The same problem I have if I connect secondary PST (to exclude the store on
Exchange) that should according to Marketing promises "support unicode from
version 2003" and still the same problem. data disapperaring - or to be more
precise è turns to e.

:-(

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

If a store supports Unicode there is a flag set on the Store object at
PR_STORE_SUPPORT_MASK (0x340D0003). The bit that tells you if the store
supports Unicode in that PT_LONG is called STORE_UNICODE_OK. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884671 for information on that flag.

I'm not sure how MFCMAPI works exactly on that sort of thing, I haven't used
it in a long time, but in OutlookSpy (www.dimastr.com) if you click on
IMessage you get ANSI properties and if you Shift+click on IMessage you get
the "W" versions of the properties that are the Unicode versions.

 

[Bert_Bert]

Thank you, but my problem rather is: Is my behaviour normal - if no, can
something be done to fix?

I would not insist on programatically accessing, I just would welcome any
method that would allow to keep french "è" in the items without changing it
to simple "e" while at the same time conserve "ěšÄřžý".

Is it true that from Outlook 2003 the PST should have the Unicode by default ?
This would mean it is not normal what happens to me. Can someone test to
copy "è" to your PST whether is is forgotten or not?

I found some interesting article, but not sure what is exactly says, is this
related to my problem or not? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907985

Is Outlook 2007 somehow re-designed compared to 2003 such that is remembers
unicode or is it the same undercover ?

I will try the Outlook spy.

 

[Bert_Bert]

Thanks to Oultook spy I can see more details:

on computer 1:
ost replica has this STORE_UNICODE_OK
here the characters not disappearing
on computer 2:
ost replica has this STORE_ANSI_OK and has no STORE_UNICODE_OK set
here character disappearing immediatelly

on computer 1 the character disappears after re-sync of computer 2 and then
the data go in computer 1 damaged, which is logical

The question now is, what determines whether this flag is set.
Both computers use Outlook 2003 EN SP3.

Maybe corrupted profile? I wanted to change the valuie in Spy but it
returned error something like "VALUE_COMPUTED". But from what it is a
question.

I tried SCANOST+SCANPST. It is a kind of mystery because both computers look
into the same Exchange directory - i.e. into the same store.

it now appears more like a client Outlook version/corruption.
By the way all PST at comp1 are ok unicode and all PST at comp2 are ANSI.

Maybe Activesync or other third party sw ?

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

What determines that flag value in a PST file is how it was created. It
can't be changed after the PST file was created. If the PST was created as
an Outlook 2003 or later PST it's Unicode enabled. If created as compatible
with earlier versions of Outlook it is not Unicode enabled.

Any items that have been synched or passed through that ANSI PST file are
already corrupted and there's nothing you can do about it.

 

[Bert_Bert]

What determines that flag value in a PST file is how it was created. It

can't be changed after the PST file was created. If the PST was created as
an Outlook 2003 or later PST it's Unicode enabled. If created as compatible
with earlier versions of Outlook it is not Unicode enabled.

well this is what I also originally thought

but situation at my computer was that even PST files that were UNICODE (as
seen from the same computer from same Outlook under different Win profile)
showed ANSI only support.

I think that you can have more PSTs in one Outlook mail profile each one
having different support and different value of this flag. Because store is
PST.

So I had corrupted win profile somehow and wondered how the client really
determines the value because it showed ANSI for all PSTs, even for those I
now normally use UNICODE and I did not modify at all, just login in under
different win profile.

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

If you use a MAPI viewer on a PST file and see the Unicode flag as set then
I don't see how that would change depending on where you read the flag
value. That should be a constant in the Store. You certainly can have
multiple PST files open at a time in an Outlook profile, and some can be
ANSI only and some can be Unicode only, but what type of PST it is doesn't
change.