To **`Thesis.tex`** (of **Sunil Patel**'s [**`Thesis Template.zip`**](http://www.sunilpatel.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Thesis-Template.zip)) I added these two lines (to allow for German special characters):

```
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % my edit
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % my edit

```

in the

```
% Include any extra LaTeX packages required

```

section, tried to compile ("Run" in Texmaker, "Compile" in Kile) and received the following **error message** a number of times:

```
! Package inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8:� not set up for use with LaTeX.

```

I read (somewhere on this site, can't find the link again just now) that it might help to **switch the order around**,

```
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % my edit
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % my edit

```

so I did, more or less with the same result(s). [**Ulrike Fischer** wrote something about it](https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/97318/27721), but frankly I don't get its import; translation(s) welcome! Is Ulrike basically saying that I can happily ***ignore*** both the **order** and the **error message**?

Another thing which popped up is this message (in Texmaker):

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bORRv.png)

... so maybe all it takes is to change **Thesis.tex** from **ISO-8859-1** to **UTF-8** ? Or would I need to **change the encoding of other files** (contained in the **\*.zip**), as well? Anyway, I *tried* changing **Thesis.tex** to **UTF-8**, compiled, closed; re-opened; again it's back to **ISO-8859-1** :( Going in circles...

---

**Edit**

Now I'm trying to use these lines instead

```
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}

```

Maybe that will do the trick?

---

It would be **so much a great help** (to me as a beginner, who's only read/skimmed two LaTeX books so far (a while ago), but didn't get his hands dirty for real yet) if someone could look at the **\*.zip** contents and let me know how to do it right.

---

Some **related Q&A's**, which are too technical for me at this point in time:

[Error: Unicode char \u8:φ not set up for use with LaTeX](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/73560/error-unicode-char-u8-not-set-up-for-use-with-latex)

[fontenc vs inputenc](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/44694/fontenc-vs-inputenc)

---

[Frequently loaded packages: Differences between pdfLaTeX and XeLaTeX](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/2984/frequently-loaded-packages-differences-between-pdflatex-and-xelatex)

[Moving from pdfLaTeX to XeTeX - what do I need to know?](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/7629/moving-from-pdflatex-to-xetex-what-do-i-need-to-know)

Would anyone recommend me to switch from pdfLaTeX to a different compiler, at this beginners' stage of mine? For now, I'm only interested in writing a short thesis with one or two tables, bibliography, etc; nothing more exotic than that.

---

**PS**: If you happen to know of an **alternative template** which looks pretty similar to Sunil's and is already compatible with the German umlauts, please do let me know.