Typing Symbols

Hi @Venter, Michelle M,

Regarding your issue, may I kindly ask a few questions to help understand it better. 

• I saw that you posted your question under the Business category so to better support you, would you mind letting me know is this account a personal Microsoft account (e.g., account.microsoft.com) or a work/school account (e.g., myaccount.microsoft.com) provided by an organization?          
• When did this start happening (after an update, restart, or any recent change)? 
• Does the issue also occur in Outlook on the web? 
• Are other users in your organization experiencing the same issue, or is it only happening to you? 
• Could you describe what the symbols look like (for example, boxes, question marks, or special characters)? Perhaps provide a screenshot if possible (make sure to hide personal information) 
• Have you tried repairing Outlook to see if it helps with your issue? For more details, please refer to: Repair an Office application

Hope to hear back from you soon.   

The initial response may not fully address your needs, but it will help me better understand your situation. Once I get the information, I will try my best to find the next steps. 

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

In Outlook on Windows, unexpected or “weird” symbols while typing are usually caused by either encoding issues, IME (Input Method Editor) behavior, or AutoCorrect/formatting features.

Try these steps, in order:

1. Check if accented or special characters become question marks or other symbols
   • This is a known issue in classic Outlook for Microsoft 365 where extended characters (®, é, ü, ñ, £, etc.) are replaced by question marks.
   • Fix by updating Outlook to a build where the issue is resolved:
     • The issue is fixed in these builds:
       • Version 2601 19628.20252
       • Version 2602 19725.20164
       • Version 2603 19822.20032
     • Install the latest Microsoft 365 Apps updates so Outlook reaches one of these versions.
2. Adjust encoding settings in classic Outlook (if still affected)
   • Open Outlook.
   • Go to File > Options > Advanced.
   • Under International Options:
     • Clear “Automatically select encoding for outgoing messages.”
     • For “Preferred encoding for outgoing messages,” select “Unicode (UTF-8).”
   • Test typing your email again.
3. If characters change after typing “@” and using an IME
   • If an IME is enabled and characters after “@” appear in a different single‑byte character set (SBCS), this is a known issue.
   • Workaround: revert to a previous version of the IME following the steps in “Revert to a previous version of an IME (Input Method Editor)” referenced in the article.
4. If punctuation or text is auto-changed (e.g., smileys to emojis)
   • Outlook can automatically convert text like “:)” to emojis or apply other AutoCorrect changes.
   • To review or disable these:
     • Go to File > Options > Mail.
     • Select Editor Options > Proofing.
     • Select AutoCorrect Options.
     • On the AutoCorrect tab, review entries under “Replace text as you type” and delete or modify any that are causing unwanted symbols.

If the issue persists after these steps, confirm whether it happens only in Outlook or in other apps as well; if only Outlook is affected, repairing Office may also help.

References:

• Classic Outlook replaces accented and extended characters with question marks
• Characters are displayed as SBC (Single Byte Character Set) after using the "@" symbol when IME (Input Method Editor) is turned on
• Autocorrect emojis in documents and email