Changing the Current Font and Font Size in Microsoft Outlook

Reader John from Australia wrote to ask how to make a change to one of Microsoft Outlook's default settings.

John wrote:

In Outlook how to change the font to a default setting.

I am trying to find out how to change the font so it stays as the default in Outlook. I go to format and font inside of an email and it changes only for that email. The next time it reverts back to the old font. Basically I simply want to change from 10 to 12 font

I use XP Pro. Word 2003

The answer is that the place to change the default font is not the same place where you change the font in a specific message you're writing.

First, you open Microsoft Outlook. Then, from the menu bar, select Tools > Options.



That will open the Outlook options dialog box. At this point, click on the Mail Format tab.

There are two things to check here: (1) make sure that the message format is either HTML or Rich Text, if you want to be able to change fonts, and (2) in the Stationery and Fonts section, click on the Fonts... button.



Now, we get the default Fonts dialog box. We can choose the font and size for new messages. We can even choose to use a different font and size for our default wen we're replying to or forwarding an email.

Finally, when we receive plain text emails, since Outlook is a graphical user interface (GUI), the plain text is actually displayed in a font. Outlook defaults to the ugly Courier New font, but allows us to change how we view a plain text message when we're preparing it or when we read one that is in plain text format.