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User profile for user: tcg121
tcg121 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Mail font / typography problems

Hi,

I have recently moved across to Mail (having previously used Outlook) and have set the default font as Arial 10pt. However, I have been told by several recipients that the text displays differently as their end, often in Times New Roman and in varying sizes, from 8pt to 14pt! This is now becoming really annoying especially when I send work related emails as the layout can look very unprofessional.

Also, the text displays very small on my screen when composing and reading mail (6-8pt), although it is set to 10pt. As a result it ends up being really hard to read and there seems to be no default font to adjust the display size.

It seems that a large amount of people are experiencing the same problems but I can't seems to find any solutions or updates created by Apple. Can anyone help???

Thanks in advance!

Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Feb 26, 2008 1:40 AM

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6 replies
User profile for user: Neville Mayfield
Neville Mayfield
User level: Level 4
1,305 points

Feb 26, 2008 2:02 AM in response to tcg121

There are several options available in Mail Preferences under the Mail menu in the top bar.

Under Fonts and Colors you can make the message text what you choose - font and size. This is what should appear at the other end.

Note that screen resolution on your machine will affect how it looks to you, likewise on the recipient's machine. Different model computers have different screen resolutions as default.

Under Composing make sure you have selected Rich Text (default, I think).

If layout is important to you the most reliable way is to use MS Word and Insert the file or copy it and paste it into your email or Attach it to your email.

Hope these points are satisfactory.

Neville
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User profile for user: tcg121
tcg121 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Feb 26, 2008 2:20 AM in response to Neville Mayfield

Hi Neville,

Many thanks for getting back to me.

Unfortunately I have exhausted these options already and gone through all of the settings in preferences to no avail. The common issue seems to be that by changing the 'Fonts and Colors' settings, they only display differently on the composer's computer, but not on the recipients. As I mentioned, I have set the defaults to Arial 10pt, yet it appears more like 6-8pt Arail or 12-14pt Times New Roman on other computers, regardless of the resolution setup. It seems like this may be a fundamental problem with the way in which Mail is set up...It's driving me mad!

Best,

Tim.
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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
116,012 points

Feb 26, 2008 6:11 AM in response to tcg121

The common issue seems to be that by changing the 'Fonts and Colors' settings, they only display differently on the composer's computer, but not on the recipients.


In order to affect what appears on the recipient's computer, you must set the font, size, and color in the New Message pane for each individual message. Mail does not provide a feature to select these for every message by default in its Preferences. One work around is to set these in a custom stationery and use that for every outgoing.

There is also a bug which may require that you have a different font set in the Preferences than what you choose in the New Message pane.

To tell Apple you want a default setting feature added, use the feedback channel:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
116,012 points

Feb 26, 2008 8:53 AM in response to tcg121

Changing the font, size and colour in the New Message pane does not work either.


For that to not work, either you do not have different fonts set in the Preferences and what you selected in the New Message pane, or your recipient's program is set to ignore the html copy of your message (in which case there is no way you can determine what he sees). Send me a test message if you like (tom at bluesky dot org).
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Mail font / typography problems

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