# German umlaut in schema is converted to question mark (?) in Lenses

**URL:** https://ask.lenses.io/t/german-umlaut-in-schema-is-converted-to-question-mark-in-lenses/101
**Category:** Lenses
**Created:** [August 1, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://ask.lenses.io/t/german-umlaut-in-schema-is-converted-to-question-mark-in-lenses/101 "2023-08-01T16:44:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![natalie](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/ask.lenses.io/natalie/32/63_2.png) [@natalie](https://ask.lenses.io/u/natalie)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://ask.lenses.io/t/german-umlaut-in-schema-is-converted-to-question-mark-in-lenses/101/1 "2023-08-01T16:44:01Z")

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Via the Schema Registry I edited an AVRO schema so that the “doc” section for a field contains a German umlaut (“_ü_”).

After saving/evolving the schema I opened it again in the browser, and the umlaut is replaced by a question mark (“_?_”).

Shouldn’t schemas be stored in UTF-8 format?

We use Lenses version 4.3.5 and Schema Registry version 5.4.3.

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### Author: ![Marios](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/ask.lenses.io/marios/32/8_2.png) [@Marios](https://ask.lenses.io/u/Marios)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2023, 8:20am UTC](https://ask.lenses.io/t/german-umlaut-in-schema-is-converted-to-question-mark-in-lenses/101/2 "2023-08-02T08:20:18Z")

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Trying to replicate your issue in Lenses Box (a quick way to validate issues) failed.

If I had to guess, I would place my bet that the server or the container image —if you run things in containers— is not set to use UTF-8.

A little while ago, we saw a similar issue in Kafka Connect with a user on Confluent’s Kafka Connect docker images. Their images do not have a set UTF-8 locale (they default in C - ASCII by default), so some connectors had issues processing strings in UTF-8 unless we explicitly forced UTF-8 in the connector’s source code.

In short, I suggest you check that the server or container that runs Lenses and Schema Registry, both are set to use a UTF-8 enabled locale.

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### Author: ![natalie](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/ask.lenses.io/natalie/32/63_2.png) [@natalie](https://ask.lenses.io/u/natalie)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2023, 8:40am UTC](https://ask.lenses.io/t/german-umlaut-in-schema-is-converted-to-question-mark-in-lenses/101/3 "2023-08-02T08:40:35Z")

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Hi Marios, thanks for your quick reply! I will check with our admins.
