Mail signature doesn't display properly

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Level 4

2,485 points

Mail signature doesn't display properly

I've been having an issue with my signature in Mail.app. When I compose and view my message in Mail, my signature appears correctly, however recipients of my emails have reported to me that a couple of the lines of my signature appear with an increased font size (so if I have 5 lines of signature text, 3 will be size 12, which is what I want, and 2 will be size 14). I can see this happening for myself when people reply to my emails - the signature that appeared correct when I composed my email comes back entirely distorted.

Does anyone have any ideas what is causing this, or how it can be fixed? FWIW, I'm using Verdana size 12.

TIA

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Nov 10, 2009 8:47 AM

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Answer 1

CrzyCanuck72 Author

Level 4

2,485 points

Nov 10, 2009 4:18 PM in response to CrzyCanuck72

bump..

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Nov 10, 2009 4:24 PM in response to CrzyCanuck72

Could you send me a message with your signature so I can see what is happening (tom at bluesky dot org)?

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Answer 3

CrzyCanuck72 Author

Level 4

2,485 points

Nov 10, 2009 4:54 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I'd prefer not to, but here's a link to a screenshot - this is taken from a reply to an email I sent. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how the signature gets distorted in transmission. Again, this signature appears correct in Mail's signature pane, and when composing the email.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2006/screenshot20091110atnov.jpg

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Nov 10, 2009 7:06 PM in response to CrzyCanuck72

The point of asking for an email is so I can see the underlying code which is causing your display. But you can view it yourself by going to the copy of your message in the Sent folder and doing View > Message > Raw Source and then seeing whether there is something different about the font and font size codes attached to the lines of your sig which are not right.

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Answer 5

CrzyCanuck72 Author

Level 4

2,485 points

Nov 10, 2009 7:48 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Yes, the code seems to jump from

"><font class=3D"Apple-style-span" face=3D"Verdana" =
size=3D"3"><span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-size: 11px"

to

"style=3D"font-size: medium; = font-family: 'Lucida Grande'"

at the spot where the signature changes size. Verdana 11 is what it should be (I changed it from 12 to 11 since my OP to see if it would help). The problem also is that the change in font/size is completely random - it changes at different parts of the signature, and sometimes not at all.

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Answer 6

CrzyCanuck72 Author

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Nov 11, 2009 6:20 AM in response to CrzyCanuck72

bump...

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Nov 11, 2009 6:50 AM in response to CrzyCanuck72

I don't see how Mail could change fonts chosen by you like this. If you create an alternative signature of the same sort and use a totally different font like Helvetica or Arial, does the same thing happen?

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Answer 8

CrzyCanuck72 Author

Level 4

2,485 points

Nov 11, 2009 7:09 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I tried it with Arial, and while the size stays consistent through the signature, it is a couple sizes bigger than I set it as in Mail preferences (shows to recipients as size 14, should be size 12).

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Answer 9

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Nov 11, 2009 7:17 AM in response to CrzyCanuck72

shows to recipients as size 14, should be size 12

Does View > Message > Raw Source on the message in your Sent folder show 12 or 14?

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Answer 10

CrzyCanuck72 Author

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Nov 11, 2009 7:20 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Doesn't give a specific size, just says "font-family: Arial; font-size: medium"

(thanks for your help, btw - this is a maddening problem in that it's completely random and unpredictable)

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Answer 11

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Nov 11, 2009 7:30 AM in response to CrzyCanuck72

Doesn't give a specific size, just says "font-family: Arial; font-size: medium"

I guess that leaves the precise size displayed up to the recipient's app.

Have you tried setting the font and font size via the font button in the new message pane for each outgoing message?

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Answer 12

CrzyCanuck72 Author

Level 4

2,485 points

Nov 11, 2009 8:14 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Well some people are reporting that it shows up properly... it really seems to be a matter of what client the recipient is using/how the stars are aligned. It's completely random... but I do think changing the font helped a bit.

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Answer 13

CrzyCanuck72 Author

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Nov 11, 2009 8:16 AM in response to CrzyCanuck72

oh, and FWIW, I'm not the only one with this problem: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10193024

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Answer 14

rubyrock

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2010 6:24 PM in response to CrzyCanuck72

I'm having the exact same issue, except that for me it only happens when I'm sending email to people who are using Windows-based computers running Outlook. When I send email another Mac running the Mail client, I can't replicate the problem. Any thoughts?

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Answer 15

dsrtrosy

Level 1

5 points

Jan 11, 2010 10:09 AM in response to rubyrock

I have this problem sending to Outlook, as well as one other--any image sent as part of my signature (a fairly common practice) arrives to Outlook as a TIFF attachment, and any text that follows an image arrives to Outlook as an ATL attachment. I need my signature to look like a signature!

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