Where is default zoom in/out capability in Mail App?

Question

Level 1

7 points

Where is default zoom in/out capability in Mail App?

If I just want to zoom email contents then I can use cmd and +/- to do that. My complaint is that I have to do it every time I read an email. The mail app should persist zoom settings.

Recommended behavior: Every time a new email is being viewed the last zoom settings should be used to render the email contents. Therefore, the email content automatically gets zoomed-in/out when viewed and the user does not have to zoom-in/out manually each time an email is viewed.

Checkout the following screenshots:

Before zoom-in or the default zoom:

After I manually zoom-in: (This should become default zoom level after every time I change the zoom level) (Check-out how nicely the zoomed in font is and readable as well):

Mac mini

Posted on Nov 24, 2023 9:28 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

PRP_53

Level 10

91,393 points

Nov 25, 2023 2:05 AM in response to arjun_1

You can always make this Suggestion as a Feature to be added to Ventura >> Mail

Feedback - Mail - Apple

Though, as Apple Development has moved on to the successor of Venture, macOS 14 Sonoma and may be in the very early stages of developing the Successor of macOS 14 Sonoma

Reply

Answer 2

etresoft

Level 9

50,800 points

Nov 25, 2023 5:48 AM in response to arjun_1

arjun_1 wrote:

If I just want to zoom email contents then I can use cmd and +/- to do that. My complaint is that I have to do it every time I read an email. The mail app should persist zoom settings.

I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that I don't see those commands in the menu anywhere. You seem to have discovered a hidden feature. I didn't know you could do that. Thanks!

The bad news is that since this is a hidden feature, it might go away in some future update. Such is life with Apple.

My recommendation would be to go to Mail > Settings > Fonts & Colours and change your default font sizes. This will fix the view in most messages, but not all. It is possible to construct a message using specific font sizes and you might still get some messages where people have used 8 point font on purpose and you'll still have to zoom in. Such is life with e-mail.

Reply

Answer 3

arjun_1 Author

Level 1

7 points

Nov 25, 2023 6:48 AM in response to etresoft

Adjusting message font size under under settings is only effective while composing a message. So that's not helpful while viewing messages. It does affect font size while reading emails sometimes but that's irregular weird behavior.

Thing is I use 27inch monitor and sit 2-3 feet away from it. So, it becomes essential for me to have an entire Mail app zoomed in. But, currently I can get away with just zooming in while reading emails with CMD +

The Spark Desktop email client has a very neat feature to zoom in/out the entire email client. Along with that it also zooms in/out email reading pane as well. It does remember the zoom level when app is reopened. However, I am hesitant to use it due to security concerns.

Apple product managers/designers should take few ideas from Spark Desktop client though.

Reply

Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,410 points

Nov 25, 2023 6:59 AM in response to arjun_1

Apple product managers/designers should take few ideas from Spark Desktop client though.

You should just use Spark Desktop client if it provides features you want.

Changing the font size works for me most of the time. I guess I don't get email from people who send emails with encoded font sizes.

Reply

Answer 5

etresoft

Level 9

50,800 points

Nov 25, 2023 7:02 AM in response to arjun_1

arjun_1 wrote:

Adjusting message font size under under settings is only effective while composing a message. So that's not helpful while viewing messages. It does affect font size while reading emails sometimes but that's irregular weird behavior.

Seems to work fine for me. Most HTML e-mails whose font size can't be changed are usually just junk mail. I don't need to read those. And thanks to your tip, I can now easily zoom in on them if I do want to read them.

Apple product managers/designers should take few ideas from Spark Desktop client though.

Apple prefers to just port apps from iOS to the Mac. Mail is one of the few legacy Mac apps. Maybe next year it will get the axe.

Reply