diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php
index 0200535ad5..ca583a945e 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.so_sql.inc.php
@@ -1249,6 +1249,10 @@ class so_sql
 				$numeric_columns[] = $col;
 				continue;
 			}
+			if ($this->db->Type == 'mysql' && $table_def['fd'][$col_name]['type'] === 'ascii' && !preg_match('/[\x80-\xFF]/', $_pattern))
+			{
+				continue;	// will only give sql error
+			}
 			$columns[] = sprintf($this->db->capabilities[egw_db::CAPABILITY_CAST_AS_VARCHAR],"COALESCE($col,'')");
 		}
 		if($columns)
diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/class.accounts_sql.inc.php b/phpgwapi/inc/class.accounts_sql.inc.php
index 5db15d6725..d3be2a67b1 100644
--- a/phpgwapi/inc/class.accounts_sql.inc.php
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/class.accounts_sql.inc.php
@@ -424,7 +424,10 @@ class accounts_sql
 		if (!isset($GLOBALS['egw_setup']) || in_array(emailadmin_smtp_sql::TABLE, $this->db->table_names(true)))
 		{
 			$email_cols = array('coalesce('.$this->contacts_table.'.contact_email,'.emailadmin_smtp_sql::TABLE.'.mail_value) as email');
-			$search_cols[] = emailadmin_smtp_sql::TABLE.'.mail_value';
+			if ($this->db->Type == 'mysql' && !preg_match('/[\x80-\xFF]/', $param['query']))
+			{
+				$search_cols[] = emailadmin_smtp_sql::TABLE.'.mail_value';
+			}
 			$join .= ' LEFT JOIN '.emailadmin_smtp_sql::TABLE.' ON '.$this->table.'.account_id=-'.emailadmin_smtp_sql::TABLE.'.account_id AND mail_type='.emailadmin_smtp_sql::TYPE_ALIAS;
 		}