MS Outlook Express Testing Results

MUAs Testing results

Product: MS Outlook Express 97 for Windows 95
URL: http://www.microsoft.com/outlook/
Product Contact:
Environment: Windows 95, PE Language supplement
Test date: 1998-03, 1998-06

1. Results of the test

MS Outlook Express 97 for Windows 95

Charset
ISO 8859-1
Latin 1 KOI8-R
Russian KOI8-U
Ukrainian Windows
Cyrillic CP1251 ISO 8859-2
Latin 2 ISO 8859-4
Latin4
Scandinavian/ Baltic

test-1 (Displaying) Pass Pass (1) Pass (1) Pass

test-2 (Printing) Pass Pass Pass Pass

test-3
(Replying with non-ASCII A, S) Pass Pass (1) Pass (1) Pass

test-4
(Replying with non-ASCII Body) Pass Pass (1) Pass (1) Pass

test-5
(Replying Copy& Paste) Pass Pass (1) Pass (1) Pass

test-6
(Forwarding) Pass Pass (2) (3) Pass (2) (3) Pass (3)

test-7
(Typing on kbd) Pass Pass Pass Pass

test-8
(Exch non-ASCII default)

test-9
(UTF7/UTF8) Pass Pass Pass Pass

Comment:

(1) You should set remapping between KOI8-R for message encoding and Windows Encoding for displaying message. Message text can be typed only in Windows encoding.
(2) Comment: The same as in (1). You can type additional text in Forwarded message only in Windows encoding
(3) Comment: Don?t change Language/Encoding when forwarding readable message.
(4) You can?t change encoding for Cyrillic text when reading message
(5) Composed Cyrillic msg always treated as CP1251 and converted to KOI8-R
(6) Send Cyrillic msg in selected Encoding
(7) Header field in Message windows sometimes displyed non-correctly
(8) Allow HTML Multipart/Alternative

2. Examination of Multilingual features of Mail User?s Agents

MS Outlook Express,
Edition November 1997
SETUPs and First Examination (OE without Pan-European Pack)

TOOLS>STATIONARY>(Mail | News)>Compose Font>Font Settings - Setting up Font for Mail and News compose

Allows to choose Font for different Scripts (according to Font Properties)

Strange and confusing relations between Font and Script

(Script is defined by Font?s Properties, F.E., ER Kurier KOI8-R is displayed as Western only, some Hebrew TTFs - as Symbols)
Note. Some fonts used are self-developed

FILE>PROPERTIES>(General | Details) - display message or Mailbox properties

Details - display Message header and additionally Message Source

TOOLS>OPTIONS>(General | Send | Read | Spelling?)

Setup Message Format and Encoding - for Sending Messages

Fonts Settings for different Alphabets/Languages - for Reading Messages

>READ>International Settings - provide Character Set Mapping (F.E., koi8-r -> Ukrainian Alphabet (KOI8-RU))

NOT completely CLEAR relations between Character Sets, Languages and Encodings for the MUA

Settings in TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: Plain Text Format

MIME (None, QP, Base64) + Allow 8-bit characters in header

Uuencode

Settings in TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: HTML Format

MIME (None, QP, Base64) + Allow 8-bit character in header

Send pictures with message

Settings in TOOLS>OPTIONS>READ: Font Setting

Alphabets

Baltic Alphabet (ISO, Windows)

Central European (ISO, Windows)

Cyrillic (ISO, Windows, KOI8-R, KOI8-RU)

Greek

Turkish Alphabet (Turkish Alphabet)

Universal Alphabet (UTF-7, UTF-8)

User Defined (no options)

Western (Western Alphabet - no options)

Spelling settings

Language choosing

TOOLS>OPTIONS>Advanced>Login Options

Transport: News, Mail, IMAP

Working with Mail boxes

VIEW>Languages (Encodings)

Settings from TOOLS>OPTIONS>READ>FONTS

Alphabets?

Using Languages in VIEW>LANGUAGE is not correct in general because of it?s encoding, also it work and process Messge header tag ?Content-Type: text/plain; charset=KOI8-R?

Composing Message

Format>Languages> Alphabets?

Plain Text or HTML

11. PE International Pack provides support of Ukrainian Language (KOI8-RU Encoding)

3. Free form documenting of testing process

Tested MUA - MS Outlook Express, Edition November 1997
Reference MUA - Netscape Mail 3.01 Gold

MS Outlook Express READING Msg

Message received in KOI8-R is only viewed properly in Windows encoding although Mailer Reader reads Charset setting of the message.

Not at once switch language after not correct reading and reacting on charset info in message

It reads charset in message KOI8-R but can see only in Windows

(strange, but ISO, koi8-r is displayed in Windows too)

Russian Message sent with Format>Language>Cyrillic (KOI8-R):

Displayed correctly in OE with VIEW>Language>Cyrillic (KOI8-R) in Body and MSg List BUT not in Message Windows only for Address and Subject

BUT Netscape can not display correctly Message Body - some unrecognised encoding (Viewed source - not Win nor KOI8-R)

QP message from Netscape is displayed in OE only in Cyrillic (Windows) as in case of OE?s own QP message

Message Source in File>Properties show message source in Windows encoding (?)

Message with TAB in Body is displayed without TAB what produce mess

Replied message sent from OE is displayed in Netscape as TABulated

Message (of Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 11:41:41 +0200)

Message in HTML format is sent in
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0032_01BD4F3E.27EC34C0"

Read by Netscape as MIME text part but

by OE as HTML part (?)

Sent as CP1251 - displayed as KOI8-R (and v.v.!)

9. Message sent in text format (Western Alpabet, no MIME Encoding. ?As Is?- Note. Text was viewed correctly during composing)

Sent and displayed with ??? instead of 8-bit characters

You can see message property by FILE>PROPERTIES>Details

The same problem in OE and Netscape (reference MUA)

10. Message sent in UNICODE (Western Alpabet, no MIME Encoding. ?UNICODE -no alternative for UTF-7/UTF-8?- Note. Text was viewed correctly during composing)

Message is MIME multipart/alternative;

Displayed correctly in OE

Displayed as UTF-8 ASCII strings in Address and Subject but non-ASCII chars are substituted by ????

Netscape display - text part of multipart/alternative part

MS Outlook Express COMPOSING

When starting composing message KBD is switched to KOI8-R or Windows (depending on Format>Languages) - Bad and fixed/obtrusive

When typing text in different fields - KBD settings are changed according to previously/initially used language and encoding - GOOD but fixed/obtrusive

Text in Subj and Address can be printed only in Windows CP1251

Forwarded message correctly read only new typed Subject and CP1251 encoded lines/text in Message Body

Msg List, Address and Previously KOI8-R encoded Body Part are not readable

Netscape can read correctly only CP1251 encoded part of forwarded Message with Windows encoding

Pasting text into MSG Body

You can do it only for KOI8-R text (View>LANG>KOI8-R)

If you paste CP1251 text and send in Cyrillic (Windows) you can not read text at all

But if you send previous message with Cyrillic (KOI8-R), you?ll be able to read text changing VIEW>Language to Cyrillic (Windows)

When Cut text from composing message in HTML format (containing different formatting and encoding, i.e. CP1251, KOI8-R), and Pasting it into message text is displayed in some (unrecognisable from listed) encoding

After Changing FORMAT>LANGUAGE>? you need to refresh display by means of scrolling (Incredible!)
If Paste with ?>Western Alphabet All text is displayed in CP1251 (KOI8-R and CP1251)
Doesn?t allow to type KOI8-R text in Free address form - only Windows

Format>language>Alphabet changes doesn?t impact currently edited message body

BUT
Changes in TOOLS>OPTIONS>READ from HTML to Plain Text in Msg Composer change Lang/Encoding settings

Received message after such changes is dispalyed correctly in subject line in msg list but incorrectly in Address and Subject in msg viewer

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1251"

In Netscape it?s viewed with Windows Encoding correctly in body but Subject and Address displayed only with koi8-r TTFs - non-readable

MS Outlook Express SENDING

TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: Plain Text Format>MIME (QP, Allow 8-bit)

Message sent - Was proposed to send Message in UNICODE (UTF-8?) or As Is

Sent and Received msg with charset="utf-8" - displayed correctly Windows encoded parts (mesg list, address, Subj, Wind part of Body

Sent and Received msg with As Is (charset="koi8-r")- displayed correctly (msg list) and KOI8-R encoded part of Body

NETSCAPE: MSG with UTF-8 unreadable

BUT with ?koi8-r? readable in KOI8-R only parts that were typed in Windows
Ukrainian letters are supported only with PE Pack otherwise - not displayed at all

TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: Plain Text Format>MIME (QP, not Allow 8-bit)

Message sent without asking UNICODE/As Is

Header always encoded with Base64

Again - Subj and Address lines are not readable correctly; KOI8-R part of Body is readable correctly

Subj and Address lines are transferred to Windows (?!?!)

Again Netscape cad display correctly only that part of Message which were typed in CP1251

TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: Plain Text Format>MIME (Base64, not Allow 8-bit)

Header always encoded with Base64

Again - Subj and Address lines are not readable correctly; KOI8-R part of Body is readable correctly

Subj and Address lines are transferred to Windows (?!?!)

Again Netscape cad display correctly only that part of Message which were typed in CP1251

MS Outlook Express GENERAL REMARKS

Netscape - O.K. in Body and BAD in Subj. and Addresses Autohrization is very slowely!!

Problem with Forwarding message from News Reader without Simple MAPI Mailer (??)

Using term ?Languages? in VIEW>LANGUAGE is not correct in general because of it?s encoding, also it work and process Messge header tag ?Content-Type: text/plain; charset=KOI8-R?

SMTP/POP3 Server PROVIDE AUTOCONVERTING FROM Base64/QP to 8-bit

There is not possibility to mark messages

OE SOMETIMES display attached docs files if they are *.txt or without extension; *.html, *.htm - are not displayed in message body and processed by loading external browser.

Completely Forwarded mesage is not displayed at all!

MS Outlook Express RECOMMENDATIONS

You should compose message using Windows Aplhabets/Encodings BUT Select in FORMAT>LANGUAGE>Alphabets? necessary encoding

Suggestion. OE use internal mapping regarding CP1251 and Unicode

To setup support of KOI8-U you should download Pan-European Pack (supporting KOI8-RU as Ukrainian Language)

MS Outlook Express 97 for Windows 95
Charset	ISO 8859-1 Latin 1	KOI8-R Russian	KOI8-U Ukrainian	Windows Cyrillic CP1251	ISO 8859-2 Latin 2	ISO 8859-4 Latin4 Scandinavian/ Baltic
test-1 (Displaying)	Pass	Pass (1)	Pass (1)	Pass
test-2 (Printing)	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass
test-3 (Replying with non-ASCII A, S)	Pass	Pass (1)	Pass (1)	Pass
test-4 (Replying with non-ASCII Body)	Pass	Pass (1)	Pass (1)	Pass
test-5 (Replying Copy& Paste)	Pass	Pass (1)	Pass (1)	Pass
test-6 (Forwarding)	Pass	Pass (2) (3)	Pass (2) (3)	Pass (3)
test-7 (Typing on kbd)	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass
test-8 (Exch non-ASCII default)
test-9 (UTF7/UTF8)	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass

MS Outlook Express	READING Msg Message received in KOI8-R is only viewed properly in Windows encoding although Mailer Reader reads Charset setting of the message. Not at once switch language after not correct reading and reacting on charset info in message It reads charset in message KOI8-R but can see only in Windows (strange, but ISO, koi8-r is displayed in Windows too) Russian Message sent with Format>Language>Cyrillic (KOI8-R): Displayed correctly in OE with VIEW>Language>Cyrillic (KOI8-R) in Body and MSg List BUT not in Message Windows only for Address and Subject BUT Netscape can not display correctly Message Body - some unrecognised encoding (Viewed source - not Win nor KOI8-R) QP message from Netscape is displayed in OE only in Cyrillic (Windows) as in case of OE?s own QP message Message Source in File>Properties show message source in Windows encoding (?) Message with TAB in Body is displayed without TAB what produce mess Replied message sent from OE is displayed in Netscape as TABulated Message (of Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 11:41:41 +0200) Message in HTML format is sent in Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0032_01BD4F3E.27EC34C0" Read by Netscape as MIME text part but by OE as HTML part (?) Sent as CP1251 - displayed as KOI8-R (and v.v.!) 9. Message sent in text format (Western Alpabet, no MIME Encoding. ?As Is?- Note. Text was viewed correctly during composing) Sent and displayed with ??? instead of 8-bit characters You can see message property by FILE>PROPERTIES>Details The same problem in OE and Netscape (reference MUA) 10. Message sent in UNICODE (Western Alpabet, no MIME Encoding. ?UNICODE -no alternative for UTF-7/UTF-8?- Note. Text was viewed correctly during composing) Message is MIME multipart/alternative; Displayed correctly in OE Displayed as UTF-8 ASCII strings in Address and Subject but non-ASCII chars are substituted by ???? Netscape display - text part of multipart/alternative part
MS Outlook Express	COMPOSING When starting composing message KBD is switched to KOI8-R or Windows (depending on Format>Languages) - Bad and fixed/obtrusive When typing text in different fields - KBD settings are changed according to previously/initially used language and encoding - GOOD but fixed/obtrusive Text in Subj and Address can be printed only in Windows CP1251 Forwarded message correctly read only new typed Subject and CP1251 encoded lines/text in Message Body Msg List, Address and Previously KOI8-R encoded Body Part are not readable Netscape can read correctly only CP1251 encoded part of forwarded Message with Windows encoding Pasting text into MSG Body You can do it only for KOI8-R text (View>LANG>KOI8-R) If you paste CP1251 text and send in Cyrillic (Windows) you can not read text at all But if you send previous message with Cyrillic (KOI8-R), you?ll be able to read text changing VIEW>Language to Cyrillic (Windows) When Cut text from composing message in HTML format (containing different formatting and encoding, i.e. CP1251, KOI8-R), and Pasting it into message text is displayed in some (unrecognisable from listed) encoding After Changing FORMAT>LANGUAGE>? you need to refresh display by means of scrolling (Incredible!) If Paste with ?>Western Alphabet All text is displayed in CP1251 (KOI8-R and CP1251) Doesn?t allow to type KOI8-R text in Free address form - only Windows Format>language>Alphabet changes doesn?t impact currently edited message body BUT Changes in TOOLS>OPTIONS>READ from HTML to Plain Text in Msg Composer change Lang/Encoding settings Received message after such changes is dispalyed correctly in subject line in msg list but incorrectly in Address and Subject in msg viewer Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1251" In Netscape it?s viewed with Windows Encoding correctly in body but Subject and Address displayed only with koi8-r TTFs - non-readable
MS Outlook Express	SENDING TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: Plain Text Format>MIME (QP, Allow 8-bit) Message sent - Was proposed to send Message in UNICODE (UTF-8?) or As Is Sent and Received msg with charset="utf-8" - displayed correctly Windows encoded parts (mesg list, address, Subj, Wind part of Body Sent and Received msg with As Is (charset="koi8-r")- displayed correctly (msg list) and KOI8-R encoded part of Body NETSCAPE: MSG with UTF-8 unreadable BUT with ?koi8-r? readable in KOI8-R only parts that were typed in Windows Ukrainian letters are supported only with PE Pack otherwise - not displayed at all TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: Plain Text Format>MIME (QP, not Allow 8-bit) Message sent without asking UNICODE/As Is Header always encoded with Base64 Again - Subj and Address lines are not readable correctly; KOI8-R part of Body is readable correctly Subj and Address lines are transferred to Windows (?!?!) Again Netscape cad display correctly only that part of Message which were typed in CP1251 TOOLS>OPTIONS>SEND: Plain Text Format>MIME (Base64, not Allow 8-bit) Header always encoded with Base64 Again - Subj and Address lines are not readable correctly; KOI8-R part of Body is readable correctly Subj and Address lines are transferred to Windows (?!?!) Again Netscape cad display correctly only that part of Message which were typed in CP1251
MS Outlook Express	GENERAL REMARKS Netscape - O.K. in Body and BAD in Subj. and Addresses Autohrization is very slowely!! Problem with Forwarding message from News Reader without Simple MAPI Mailer (??) Using term ?Languages? in VIEW>LANGUAGE is not correct in general because of it?s encoding, also it work and process Messge header tag ?Content-Type: text/plain; charset=KOI8-R? SMTP/POP3 Server PROVIDE AUTOCONVERTING FROM Base64/QP to 8-bit There is not possibility to mark messages OE SOMETIMES display attached docs files if they are .txt or without extension; .html, *.htm - are not displayed in message body and processed by loading external browser. Completely Forwarded mesage is not displayed at all!
MS Outlook Express	RECOMMENDATIONS You should compose message using Windows Aplhabets/Encodings BUT Select in FORMAT>LANGUAGE>Alphabets? necessary encoding Suggestion. OE use internal mapping regarding CP1251 and Unicode To setup support of KOI8-U you should download Pan-European Pack (supporting KOI8-RU as Ukrainian Language)