diff --git a/mail/inc/class.mail_compose.inc.php b/mail/inc/class.mail_compose.inc.php
index e69f407da1..4645b994ea 100644
--- a/mail/inc/class.mail_compose.inc.php
+++ b/mail/inc/class.mail_compose.inc.php
@@ -1109,28 +1109,7 @@ class mail_compose
 
 		// prepare body
 		// in a way, this tests if we are having real utf-8 (the displayCharset) by now; we should if charsets reported (or detected) are correct
-		if (strtoupper($this->displayCharset) == 'UTF-8')
-		{
-			$test = @json_encode($content['body']);
-			//error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.' ->'.strlen($singleBodyPart['body']).' Error:'.json_last_error().'<- BodyPart:#'.$test.'#');
-			//if (json_last_error() != JSON_ERROR_NONE && strlen($singleBodyPart['body'])>0)
-			if ($test=="null" && strlen($content['body'])>0)
-			{
-				// try to fix broken utf8
-				$x = (function_exists('mb_convert_encoding')?mb_convert_encoding($content['body'],'UTF-8','UTF-8'):(function_exists('iconv')?@iconv("UTF-8","UTF-8//IGNORE",$content['body']):$content['body']));
-				$test = @json_encode($x);
-				if ($test=="null" && strlen($content['body'])>0)
-				{
-					// this should not be needed, unless something fails with charset detection/ wrong charset passed
-					error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.' Charset problem detected; Charset Detected:'.mail_bo::detect_encoding($content['body']));
-					$content['body'] = utf8_encode($content['body']);
-				}
-				else
-				{
-					$content['body'] = $x;
-				}
-			}
-		}
+		$content['body'] = translation::convert_jsonsafe($content['body'],'utf-8');
 		//error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.array2string($content));
 
 		// get identities of all accounts as "$acc_id:$ident_id" => $identity
@@ -1621,7 +1600,7 @@ class mail_compose
 					$bodyParts[$i]['body'] = "<pre>".$bodyParts[$i]['body']."</pre>";
 				}
 				if ($bodyParts[$i]['charSet']===false) $bodyParts[$i]['charSet'] = mail_bo::detect_encoding($bodyParts[$i]['body']);
-				$bodyParts[$i]['body'] = translation::convert($bodyParts[$i]['body'], $bodyParts[$i]['charSet']);
+				$bodyParts[$i]['body'] = translation::convert_jsonsafe($bodyParts[$i]['body'], $bodyParts[$i]['charSet']);
 				#error_log( "GetDraftData (HTML) CharSet:".mb_detect_encoding($bodyParts[$i]['body'] . 'a' , strtoupper($bodyParts[$i]['charSet']).','.strtoupper($this->displayCharset).',UTF-8, ISO-8859-1'));
 				$this->sessionData['body'] .= ($i>0?"<br>":""). $bodyParts[$i]['body'] ;
 			}
@@ -1635,7 +1614,7 @@ class mail_compose
 					$this->sessionData['body'] .= "<hr>";
 				}
 				if ($bodyParts[$i]['charSet']===false) $bodyParts[$i]['charSet'] = mail_bo::detect_encoding($bodyParts[$i]['body']);
-				$bodyParts[$i]['body'] = translation::convert($bodyParts[$i]['body'], $bodyParts[$i]['charSet']);
+				$bodyParts[$i]['body'] = translation::convert_jsonsafe($bodyParts[$i]['body'], $bodyParts[$i]['charSet']);
 				#error_log( "GetDraftData (Plain) CharSet".mb_detect_encoding($bodyParts[$i]['body'] . 'a' , strtoupper($bodyParts[$i]['charSet']).','.strtoupper($this->displayCharset).',UTF-8, ISO-8859-1'));
 				$this->sessionData['body'] .= ($i>0?"\r\n":""). $bodyParts[$i]['body'] ;
 			}
@@ -2085,7 +2064,7 @@ class mail_compose
 				$_htmlConfig = mail_bo::$htmLawed_config;
 				mail_bo::$htmLawed_config['comment'] = 2;
 				mail_bo::$htmLawed_config['transform_anchor'] = false;
-				$this->sessionData['body'] .= "<br>".self::_getCleanHTML(translation::convert($bodyParts[$i]['body'], $bodyParts[$i]['charSet']));
+				$this->sessionData['body'] .= "<br>".self::_getCleanHTML(translation::convert_jsonsafe($bodyParts[$i]['body'], $bodyParts[$i]['charSet']));
 				mail_bo::$htmLawed_config = $_htmlConfig;
 				#error_log( "GetReplyData (HTML) CharSet:".mb_detect_encoding($bodyParts[$i]['body'] . 'a' , strtoupper($bodyParts[$i]['charSet']).','.strtoupper($this->displayCharset).',UTF-8, ISO-8859-1'));
 			}
@@ -2108,8 +2087,7 @@ class mail_compose
 				}
 
 				// add line breaks to $bodyParts
-				if ($bodyParts[$i]['charSet']===false) $bodyParts[$i]['charSet'] = mail_bo::detect_encoding($bodyParts[$i]['body']);
-				$newBody	= translation::convert($bodyParts[$i]['body'], $bodyParts[$i]['charSet']);
+				$newBody = translation::convert_jsonsafe($bodyParts[$i]['body'],$bodyParts[$i]['charSet']);
 				#error_log( "GetReplyData (Plain) CharSet:".mb_detect_encoding($bodyParts[$i]['body'] . 'a' , strtoupper($bodyParts[$i]['charSet']).','.strtoupper($this->displayCharset).',UTF-8, ISO-8859-1'));
 				$newBody = mail_ui::resolve_inline_images($newBody, $_folder, $_uid, $_partID, 'plain');
 				$this->sessionData['body'] .= "\r\n";
diff --git a/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php b/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php
index a9745f56d5..c44da59b2d 100644
--- a/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php
+++ b/mail/inc/class.mail_ui.inc.php
@@ -1961,23 +1961,7 @@ class mail_ui
 			foreach ($attachments as $key => $value)
 			{
 				$attachmentHTML[$key]['filename']= ($value['name'] ? ( $value['filename'] ? $value['filename'] : $value['name'] ) : lang('(no subject)'));
-				$test = @json_encode($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename']);
-				//error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.' ->'.strlen($singleBodyPart['body']).' Error:'.json_last_error().'<- BodyPart:#'.$test.'#');
-				if (($test=="null" || $test === false || is_null($test)) && strlen($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename'])>0)
-				{
-					// try to fix broken utf8
-					$x = utf8_encode($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename']);
-					$test = @json_encode($x);
-					if (($test=="null" || $test === false || is_null($test)) && strlen($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename'])>0)
-					{
-						// this should not be needed, unless something fails with charset detection/ wrong charset passed
-						$attachmentHTML[$key]['filename'] = (function_exists('mb_convert_encoding')?mb_convert_encoding($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename'],'UTF-8','UTF-8'):(function_exists('iconv')?@iconv("UTF-8","UTF-8//IGNORE",$attachmentHTML[$key]['filename']):$attachmentHTML[$key]['filename']));
-					}
-					else
-					{
-						$attachmentHTML[$key]['filename'] = $x;
-					}
-				}
+				$attachmentHTML[$key]['filename'] = translation::convert_jsonsafe($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename'],'utf-8');
 				//error_log(array2string($value));
 				//error_log(strtoupper($value['mimeType']) .'<->'. mime_magic::filename2mime($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename']));
 				if (strtoupper($value['mimeType']=='APPLICATION/OCTET-STREAM')) $value['mimeType'] = mime_magic::filename2mime($attachmentHTML[$key]['filename']);
@@ -2749,33 +2733,7 @@ class mail_ui
 			{
 				$singleBodyPart['body'] = preg_replace($sar,$rar,$singleBodyPart['body']);
 			}
-			if ($singleBodyPart['charSet']===false) $singleBodyPart['charSet'] = translation::detect_encoding($singleBodyPart['body']);
-			$singleBodyPart['body'] = $GLOBALS['egw']->translation->convert(
-				$singleBodyPart['body'],
-				strtolower($singleBodyPart['charSet'])
-			);
-			// in a way, this tests if we are having real utf-8 (the displayCharset) by now; we should if charsets reported (or detected) are correct
-			if (strtoupper(mail_bo::$displayCharset) == 'UTF-8')
-			{
-				$test = @json_encode($singleBodyPart['body']);
-				//error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.' ->'.strlen($singleBodyPart['body']).' Error:'.json_last_error().'<- BodyPart:#'.$test.'#');
-				if (($test=="null" || $test === false || is_null($test)) && strlen($singleBodyPart['body'])>0)
-				{
-					// try to fix broken utf8
-					$x = (function_exists('mb_convert_encoding')?mb_convert_encoding($singleBodyPart['body'],'UTF-8','UTF-8'):(function_exists('iconv')?@iconv("UTF-8","UTF-8//IGNORE",$singleBodyPart['body']):$singleBodyPart['body']));
-					$test = @json_encode($x);
-					if (($test=="null" || $test === false || is_null($test)) && strlen($singleBodyPart['body'])>0)
-					{
-						// this should not be needed, unless something fails with charset detection/ wrong charset passed
-						error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.' Charset Reported:'.$singleBodyPart['charSet'].' Charset Detected:'.translation::detect_encoding($singleBodyPart['body']));
-						$singleBodyPart['body'] = utf8_encode($singleBodyPart['body']);
-					}
-					else
-					{
-						$singleBodyPart['body'] = $x;
-					}
-				}
-			}
+			$singleBodyPart['body'] = translation::convert_jsonsafe($singleBodyPart['body'],$singleBodyPart['charSet']);
 			//error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.array2string($singleBodyPart));
 			if($singleBodyPart['mimeType'] == 'text/plain')
 			{
diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/class.translation.inc.php b/phpgwapi/inc/class.translation.inc.php
index 27b4ee50df..16fe0a1b15 100644
--- a/phpgwapi/inc/class.translation.inc.php
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/class.translation.inc.php
@@ -921,6 +921,42 @@ class translation
 		return $data;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * converts a string $data from charset $from to something that is json_encode tested
+	 *
+	 * @param string/array $data string(s) to convert
+	 * @param string/boolean $from charset $data is in or False if it should be detected
+	 * @return string/array converted string(s) from $data
+	 */
+	static function convert_jsonsafe($data,$from=False)
+	{
+		if ($from===false) $from = self::detect_encoding($data);
+		$data = self::convert($data,strtolower($from));
+		// in a way, this tests if we are having real utf-8 (the displayCharset) by now; we should if charsets reported (or detected) are correct
+		if (strtoupper(self::charset()) == 'UTF-8')
+		{
+			$test = @json_encode($data);
+			//error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.' ->'.strlen($data).' Error:'.json_last_error().'<- data:#'.$test.'#');
+			if (($test=="null" || $test === false || is_null($test)) && strlen($data)>0)
+			{
+				// try to fix broken utf8
+				$x = (function_exists('mb_convert_encoding')?mb_convert_encoding($data,'UTF-8','UTF-8'):(function_exists('iconv')?@iconv("UTF-8","UTF-8//IGNORE",$data):$data));
+				$test = @json_encode($x);
+				if (($test=="null" || $test === false || is_null($test)) && strlen($data)>0)
+				{
+					// this should not be needed, unless something fails with charset detection/ wrong charset passed
+					error_log(__METHOD__.__LINE__.' Charset Reported:'.$from.' Charset Detected:'.translation::detect_encoding($data));
+					$data = utf8_encode($data);
+				}
+				else
+				{
+					$data = $x;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		return $data;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * insert/update/delete one phrase in the lang-table
 	 *