Encoding Outgoing Messages

Encoding Outgoing Messages

[Richard Parsons]

Hello there

I'm having a problem properly encoding outgoing email when I forward a
message originally sent to me by work colleagues who use Microsoft
Outlook.  Emacs presents me with a prompt asking if I want to delete the
character that can't be encoded, replace it with ".", send it as is
anyway or continue editing the email.  If I choose any of the first
three options then I get an error message as follows:

assertion failed: (save-excusion (goto-char (point-min)) (not
(re-search-forward "[^^@-y]" nil t)))

I've not transcribed the message exactly because actually the "y" has an
umlaut over it.  In any event, the message doesn't send.

In order to forward emails I'm having to reply, change the recipients
address and then cite the original email.

I'm using GNU emacs 24.3.1 and the usual compose email modes to send the
email.

I've googled that error message and can't make sense of the references.
There seems to be some posts on the bug-gnu-emacs list, but it's too
technical for me to understand.

I and my colleagues are in the UK if that makes a difference in terms of the encoding.

Many thanks in advance
Richard

Re: Encoding Outgoing Messages

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 12.09.2013 um 08:47 schrieb Richard Parsons:

> I've not transcribed the message exactly because actually the "y" has an
> umlaut over it.

My comment is not helpful … "Umlaut" is a German word and names the set of exactly these characters: Ä, Ö, Ü, ä, ö, and ü. The two dots on a vowel or consonant are called a "DIAERESIS". The two dots are also called "TREMA".

> I'm having a problem properly encoding outgoing email when I forward a
> message originally sent to me by work colleagues who use Microsoft
> Outlook.

You should be able to find out in which encoding this message was sent to you. This encoding should be displayed as a particular character at the left edge of the mode-line. Picking that character with the mouse cursor should open a *Help* buffer and explain its meaning. (More relations of displayed character and encoding system used are listed with M-x list-coding-systems.) If the buffer with the received message shows the wrong character and text encoding and you know the proper one, then you can invoke revert-buffer-with-coding-system and pass the proper argument to the function. This function also available from menu: Options -> Multilingual Environment -> Set Coding Systems -> For Reverting This File Now (C-x RET r).

--
Greetings

  Pete

It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.

Re: Encoding Outgoing Messages

[Richard Parsons]

Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE> writes:
> The two dots on a vowel or consonant are called a "DIAERESIS". The
> two dots are also called "TREMA".

I respect the importance of accuracy and thank you for the information.

> If the buffer with the received message shows the wrong character and
> text encoding and you know the proper one, then you can invoke
> revert-buffer-with-coding-system and pass the proper argument to the
> function.

This works very well for me and solves the problem.  Many thanks for your
assistance.

Kind regards
Richard