A method, system, computer system and computer program product to enable a single interface to be used to prepare and present messages in a variety of different formats. For example, the single interface can be used to prepare, receive or display messages in different languages, such as English or Japanese, which require different character sets. Furthermore, the single interface supports preparing, sending, and receiving messages in multiple text formats, such as plain text, rich text, and Multiple Internet Mail Extension (MIME) format. A message can be received in a native format, and a format for providing a response to the message can be dynamically selected. The response is provided in the dynamically-selected format.