I suspect that if you go to '''View|Character Encoding''' and try some of the options given there you will find one that makes sense of your message. Thunderbird should detect and apply the encoding itself, from data given in the email message. The mystery is why this isn't working. Is this a common occurrence, or just particular messages? It's possible that one or more of your correspondents are using a faulty email client (or email generator) that doesn't comply with the standards.