Last Updated: February 6, 2026
ISSUE
When you write extended characters in an email, you may find that they display as question marks. Â Â
Some examples that we have seen reported include registered trademark (®), accented characters (é, ü, ñ, etc.), pound currency (£), umlauts (¨ over a letter), and other Non-ASCII Symbols.Â
From the feedback so far, this issue is occurring in Version 2601 (Build 19628.20150+).
STATUS: INVESTIGATING
The Outlook Team is investigating this issue. We will update this topic as soon as we know more information.
WORKAROUNDÂ
Workaround #1
Use Outlook Web Access (OWA) or New OutlookÂ
Workaround #2
If you urgently need to work in classic Outlook, you can revert to the prior version and verify if that addresses the issue.Â
To revert to the prior Version 2512 (Build 19530.20184).Â
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Open a Command Prompt in Administrator context.
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Type or paste the command below into the Command Prompt window and press Enter:Â "%programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\officec2rclient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.19530.20184
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To prevent Office updating back to the latest build, you can turn off updates by selecting File > Office Account > Update Options > Disable Updates.
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Put a reminder on your calendar for March 10th to re-enable updates. Or check back on this Known Issue in case it is addressed sooner.
Some more workarounds are discussed in this forum thread, Registered symbol showing as question marks. Â Â
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See Also
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in classic Outlook for Windows
