Hi,

I've been trying to get to the bottom of this and have found similar posts, but no one seems to have an answer.

When I IM someone using Lync 2013, they get a pop up notification but instead of the message they see <.  Once they open the chat window, they can see my typed text.  Occasionally, certain people can't see the first line of my chat, but as long as they keep the chat window open, they can see everything new I type.

All my conversations that are saved in outlook show < for the text and are unreadable.  I've disabled the saving of conversations because they have become worthless.

I believe it has to do with BOM but have not been able to find a way to fix this.

If I copy a conversation from the chat window and paste it into Microsoft Word it shows <, but if I paste it into notepad the conversation appears.

(I had inserted a screenshot here, but am unable to because I am unable to figure out how to get my account "verified")

I've tried changing the preferred encoding for outgoing messages: to Unicode (UTF-8) in Outlook, but this had no effect and I can't find a similar option in Lync 2013.

(I had inserted a screenshot here, but am unable to because I am unable to figure out how to get my account "verified")

I enabled logging for Lync and the event IDs that come up are 1, 11 and 12, to which I cannot find any information for at the moment.

Any help and or suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi,

Did the issue happen only for you or for multiple users?

Please try to delete Lync User Profile and information on Registry, then repair Office 2013.

The path of Lync User Profile: %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync

The path for information on Registry: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync\oldsip@domain.dom

Then test the issue again.

Best Regards,
Eason Huang

Your answer sounded so fabulous, I was hoping it would work.  It did not. :(

This issue happens only for me and only for my profile on my laptop.  If I sign on to another computer, the issue is not there and if someone else signs on to my laptop, the issue is not there.

Thanks for your help,

Nat

Hi,

Please also try to create a new user profile for Outlook and then test again.

Best Regards,
Eason Huang

Finally got rid of the problem!

Windows Update had been disabled on this laptop so I ran and updated windows and Lync changed to Skype for Business and then back to Lync (because that's what is preferred on our network) and *poof* no more alien < !

• Marked as answer by codenat 17 hours 24 minutes ago

Finally got rid of the problem!

Windows Update had been disabled on this laptop so I ran and updated windows and Lync changed to Skype for Business and then back to Lync (because that's what is preferred on our network) and *poof* no more alien < !

• Marked as answer by codenat Wednesday, July 29, 2015 2:05 PM

Finally got rid of the problem!

Windows Update had been disabled on this laptop so I ran and updated windows and Lync changed to Skype for Business and then back to Lync (because that's what is preferred on our network) and *poof* no more alien < !

• Marked as answer by codenat Wednesday, July 29, 2015 2:05 PM