diff --git a/scripting/source/pyprov/mailmerge.py b/scripting/source/pyprov/mailmerge.py
index 4654ad3..45165e4 100755
--- a/scripting/source/pyprov/mailmerge.py
+++ b/scripting/source/pyprov/mailmerge.py
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ class PyMailSMTPService(unohelper.Base, XSmtpService):
 					textbody = textbody.value
 				except:
 					pass
+				textbody = unicode(textbody, 'utf-8')
 				textbody = textbody.encode('utf-8')
 
 				if len(textbody):