Hello,
I noticed that certain fonts, included in Apple's default set, are not selectable as the default font for composing mail messages.
For instance, Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Book (a TrueType font). There are several others.
What is the reason for that ?
Thanks in advance !
MacBook Pro Retina
Hi there nunof,
We understand that you are unable to select certain fonts as a default font in the Mail application. We’d like to help however we can.
To confirm, are you following the steps here to try to change the fonts?
Change Fonts & Colors preferences in Mail on Mac
If so and you are still unable to select certain fonts, then we would recommend submitting feedback about this here:
Take care!
nunof wrote:
It was already like that, i.e., some fonts can't be selected for composing mails ! If this is a bug, it has been there for a long time ... Strange that it has never been reported ...
You are right and that is interesting. Perhaps there are not many users who try to go beyond the most common fonts. In any case, if you were able to send Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Book, it would only show up as that font at the other end if the recipients' machine also had it installed. Otherwise it will be converted to whatever the local default font happens to be.
Thanks Eric~F.
I double-checked and confirm that certain fonts are not selectable for composing messages. As per your suggestion, I submitted a "suspected bug report" to the address you provided.
Funny thing is that I noticed this while configuring my wife's brand new MacBookPro 13" M1 under Big Sur. Out of curiosity I checked what was the behavior of the same function on her old iMac, my own current iMac and my current MacBook Air, all running 10.13.6 High Sierra. It was already like that, i.e., some fonts can't be selected for composing mails ! If this is a bug, it has been there for a long time ... Strange that it has never been reported ...
Thanks again and regards.
I think you are concerned over something you have no control over. The recipient of your email controls what font is viewed in his received email. You can send an email using any font but the recipient will see the email displayed using the font of his choice. So it matters not what font you use.
BobTheFisherman wrote:
the recipient will see the email displayed using the font of his choice. So it matters not what font you use.
I think that is not normally true. Most email apps, including Apple Mail, will display the font chosen by the sender in email they receive, unless the chosen font is not locally installed, or unless the recipient has switched on an option to see only the "plain text" version of all received emails (which Mail lacks).
Thanks to all who pointed out that the font used to dispaly a received message is, in most cases, not the font used to compose it. This is because the recipient may have chosen another font to display messages or does not have the font available.
However, the way I read the documentation, if the recipient has not selected a specific font to display messages AND has the original font installed, the message will be displayed with the font used when it was composed; if that font is not installed, the receiving end will use an "approaching" font (again, this is the way I read Apple's documentation on the subject).
Note also that I have not been able to locate the Apple Mail Preference that allows me to pick up a font to display received messages ... Apart from the font used to compose messages the only other controllable font is the one used in the display of the list of messages.
nunof wrote:
Note also that I have not been able to locate the Apple Mail Preference that allows me to pick up a font to display received messages
Mail > Preferences > Fonts & Colors > Message Font. Try setting it to something very distinctive, like Market Felt. It will probably not work for the body of all incoming messages, but should for some at least (those where the sender did not choose a font).
Ok thanks. I understand now that option applies to both message writing AND display.
Thanks everyone for the interesting discussion.
Mail default font : certain fonts are not selectable
