KevinR

Q: Outline and Styles option grayed out when composing message in mail

When composing an email message using mail 6.2,I'm unable to view any styles options under the Format option in the toolbar as it's grayed out along with the Outline option. I do have the rich text button selected in my "New Message" toolbar in Mail and the text I want to apply the style changes to are selected.

 

 

I need to be able to use options like outline,superscript,subscript,etc. that are available in other email programs like Thunderbird without having to compose my email in TextEdit first,then copying and pasting it into Mail.Permissions have been repaired,and I have all of the latest Apple updates installed. Attached is a screenshot showing the grayed out areas in Mail.

Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 11.19.22 AM.png

Mail, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 1 TB Hard Drive

Posted on Dec 18, 2012 8:26 AM

Close

Q: Outline and Styles option grayed out when composing message in mail

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by InspiredLife,

    InspiredLife InspiredLife Jan 22, 2013 11:28 AM in response to KevinR
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 22, 2013 11:28 AM in response to KevinR

    Did you find a way to resolve this? I am also looking for an answer to this same question.

    Thank you.

  • by KevinR,

    KevinR KevinR Jan 23, 2013 6:31 AM in response to InspiredLife
    Level 1 (75 points)
    Jan 23, 2013 6:31 AM in response to InspiredLife

    Inspired Life,

     

    In the five weeks since I posted the question,yours is the first comment(no comment from Apple).

     

    I was able to find a work around for this issue by scouring the web for ideas,so this wasn't my solution.

     

    Go to: http://presscheck.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/how-to-highlight-text-in-yellow-using -apple-mail/

     

    While the example they make is for highlighted text,follow the guidelines to create other text styles as well.Once you've done that,they're available in Apple Mail.Just be sure to create a name for the each new style.

     

    -KevinR

     

  • by sp99,

    sp99 sp99 Oct 8, 2014 1:25 PM in response to KevinR
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2014 1:25 PM in response to KevinR

    I have the same issue on Mavericks.  I tried the suggestions by many about using TextEdit to save to favorites and that does not work either.  Hope someone at Apple can respond soon on this since this is so crucial for composing mails.

  • by rderoo,

    rderoo rderoo Oct 14, 2015 10:31 AM in response to KevinR
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 14, 2015 10:31 AM in response to KevinR

    Has anyone figured this one out?  I now have the same problem.  In fact I used the "Yellow Highlight" tip before I had this problem.  It worked once.  But now "Styles" is grayed out in Mail and I don't know why!

  • by Xlevco,

    Xlevco Xlevco Oct 21, 2015 6:50 PM in response to KevinR
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2015 6:50 PM in response to KevinR

    I have same problem with Yosemite 10.10.5 and Mail 8.2 (2104).

     

    This issue seemed to start during the procedure of adding highlighted text "Styles"—I used Apple Pages to produce the highlighted samples (yellow & green), which I then dragged & dropped into TextEdit and favorited—but selecting Font/Styles... in TextEdit caused three TextEdit unexpected quits, after relaunch, I could select Styles... in TextEdit OK and complete the favoriting.

    I had Super/Subscript Styles "favorited" before adding the highlighted Styles;  For me using Styles... in Mail to Super/Subscript wotked fine, but the highlight also worked just once (for one word)—now after quitting and rebooting apps and Mac, it still shows "Styles..." grayed out in Mail.

     

    (And yes, the message being composed in Mail is Rich Text).

  • by igal279,

    igal279 igal279 Jun 22, 2016 11:01 PM in response to KevinR
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Jun 22, 2016 11:01 PM in response to KevinR

    The "Styles..." option in my Format > Font menu is also greyed out when I'm composing a message (currently on Mail 9.3 in OS X El Capitan) and have text highlighted, so any favorites you may have created in TextEdit (e.g. yellow highlighting) are not accessible in this way.

     

    Fortunately, the solution is very simple.

     

    First of all, make sure you have created and saved your favorite style(s) in TextEdit.

     

    In your compose message window in Mail, highlight the text to which you want to apply a style.

     

    As mentioned above, if you select Format > Font from the menus at the top, the "Styles..." option will be greyed out.

     

    However, if you right-click (or ctrl-click) on the text you highlighted to get to the contextual menus and go down to "Font", you WILL have access to "Styles...". There, you can just select the style you want from among those you created in TextEdit.