Creating email in Google Apps Script - unable to create special characters like ä,ö,ü

Question

I've got a problem concerning the following script.

function doGet() {
     //Create draft email
     var body = "Project ö";
     var subject = "Subject ö";

  var forScope = GmailApp.getInboxUnreadCount(); // needed for auth scope

  var raw = 
      'Subject: ' + subject + '\n' + 
      'To: ' + "[email protected]" + '\n' +
      'Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=1234567890123456789012345678\n' +
      '' + body + '\n' + 
      '--1234567890123456789012345678--\n';

       var draftBody = Utilities.base64Encode(raw, Utilities.Charset.UTF_8);


  var params = {method:"post",
                contentType: "application/json",
                headers: {"Authorization": "Bearer " + ScriptApp.getOAuthToken()},
                muteHttpExceptions:true,
                payload:JSON.stringify({
                  "message": {
                    "raw": draftBody
                  }
                })
               };
}

The problem is that some special characters that are important in German language ("ä, ö, ü ...") are not transferred correctly to the generated draft email.

In the draft Email the character "ö" is converted to "Ã¶". It's the same in subject and body.

How can I tell Google Apps Script to create the correct characters?

Check this other question: stackoverflow.com/questions/34278328/… — Gerardo
– Gerardo, Commented Dec 21, 2015 at 21:31
@Gerardo: You're right. It works like described. Thank you very much!!! — Jörg
– Jörg, Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 11:40

Mogsdad · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-23 14:11:25Z

2

Here's an example of the raw email body received by mailing the phrase German language ("ä, ö, ü ...") to myself:

MIME-Version: 1.0
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
Received: by x.x.x.x with HTTP; Mon, 21 Dec 2015 20:29:36 -0800 (PST)
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2015 23:29:36 -0500
Delivered-To: [email protected]
X-Google-Sender-Auth: F53iraIGVkzcvVsK_xQusL1FB9Q
Message-ID: <CADiaKr4qDq8Anp4C0BymXC411nc0LtcVMrhTrQ6qErO00hB4CQ@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: german
From:Me <[email protected]>
To: Me <[email protected]>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=94eb2c06bef09d6d1c0527750dfe

--94eb2c06bef09d6d1c0527750dfe
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

 German language ("=C3=A4, =C3=B6, =C3=BC ...")

--94eb2c06bef09d6d1c0527750dfe
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_default" style=3D"font-family:arial,he=
lvetica,sans-serif"><span style=3D"color:rgb(34,36,38);font-family:Arial,&#=
39;Helvetica Neue&#39;,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:19.5=
px">=C2=A0German language (&quot;=C3=A4, =C3=B6, =C3=BC ...&quot;)</span><b=
r></div></div>

--94eb2c06bef09d6d1c0527750dfe--

Comparing that to your code, it appears that you've forgotten to set the charset in your message, so it's defaulting to US-ASCII.

You need to communicate to the reader's email client about what encoding they need to use to interpret the message, which is done as part of the Content-Type metadata of the relevant section of the email message.

Something like this:

var raw = 
      'Subject: ' + subject + '\n' + 
      'To: ' + "[email protected]" + '\n' +
      'Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=1234567890123456789012345678\n\n' +
      '--1234567890123456789012345678\n';
      'Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n' +
      'Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable\n' +
      '' + body + '\n' + 
      '--1234567890123456789012345678--\n';

That assumes you're only sending a plain text email. If you were also sending an HTML section, it would also require its own Content-Type meta-tag, which could be different if you required an alternative encoding.

edited Dec 23, 2015 at 14:11

answered Dec 22, 2015 at 4:35

Mogsdad

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2 Comments

Jörg Over a year ago

How/where should I set the charset?. I think I've set it in line: draftBody = Utilities.base64Encode(raw, Utilities.Charset.UTF_8);

Mogsdad Over a year ago

You need to communicate to the reader's email client about what encoding they need to use to interpret the message, which is done as part of the Content-Type metadata of the relevant section of the email message.

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