Has anyone noticed that there exists an alternative to ucs-style to use utf-8 encoding with latex? Have a look at: http://www.latex-project.org/cgi-bin/ltxbugs2html?pr=latex%2F3480 I tried it and it seems to work, also together with cjk-latex. But I didn't really test it. It is said to be more lightweighted and much less ressource hungry than ucs-style. However I have no idea, whether this is an advantage or not. Basic installation info: You have to create two files by copy and paste from the last part of the above homepage: utf8ienc.ins utf8ienc.dtx With "latex utf8ienc.ins" you produce some more files. Copy utf8.dev, omsenc.dfu, ot1enc.dfu, t1enc.dfu to a directory recognized by latex and execute texhash. Then try "latex utf8-test". It should produce a dvi file with Umlauts. Notice that the latex run produces one error, which is intentionally added. If you look at the utf8-test.tex file you understand. Regards Gerhard Schuck