Using Thunderbird on Linux, I have no trouble seeing UTF-8 (Unicode) encoded messages coming via the Math-fun Digest. As in this example: A Minsky is a polygon in R². It is completely specified by two real parameters, δ and ε, To enable this option in Thunderbird at least, select your Inbox, then under the Edit tab, choose Folder / General Information, and under Fallback Character Encoding select 'Unicode (UTF-8). Do not check the 'Apply to all' box below. Many email messages include a field saying which encoding was used to encode the message; this encoding can be overridden, but that's usually a mistake. In addition, I have a dedicated Math-fun folder; if you have one too, select it then set its Folder / General Information to 'Unicode (UTF-8)', but DO check the 'Apply to all' box. The Math-fun server does not 'convert to ASCII'; for most ASCII characters the encoding is the same as in UTF-8; for special characters a variable length encoding is used, usually 3 bytes. Under 'View' select 'Unicode'. While composing a message, under 'Options', select 'Unicode'. If you get this right, even earlier, existing messages should start appearing correctly. Virtually all mail readers on all current operating systems have similar features. Possibly you may need to install additional fonts; they are free, and the OS will tell you how to install them. When composing a message, using the special characters depends on your operating system, On my Linux, under the Applications tab, selecting 'Character Map' brings up a huge choice of characters (mostly special), like infinity 'ꝏ'. The Latin section is the most useful for math. Drag and drop these to your documents. -- Bill Mann -- Sudbury, MA -- 978-443-5671 -- cell: 978-460-3287