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aRKay Author

Level 2

224 points

Apple Mail fonts seem small

I am in process of switching from MS Entourage to Apple's Mail and one
observation is the size of the font in the new message panel. I used to
use Verdana 12 point in Entourage and Verdana 12 point is really small
in Mail. I have to bump Mali up to 18 points to look the same size as
the 12 Point in Entourage.

I wonder if I have something setup wrong?

 24" iMac and 13" MacBook Pro both w/4GB , Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Oct 7, 2010 4:51 PM

69 replies

Aug 13, 2012 11:54 PM in response to aRKay

This is a system problem, and there is a simple Terminal fix for it. I can't remember the details, but the fix was described in a MacWorld article a year or so ago. I went through the described procedure in Terminal on my G5 running 10.5.8 and 10.4.11 and have had no problems since, but you will need to consult Apple (possibly via the Genius Bar at an Apple store) or search the MacWorld archives to find out how to do it.

Aug 22, 2012 11:29 PM in response to colinmccleery

This is a serious design flaw. The font in mail is tiny.

If I type in mail i want to see wysiwig. whole concept of html email is so i can control what people see at other end.

How come an email I sent from my Airbook is tiny html font but on my ipad its good, my iphone its good and outlook/PC its a completely different (default font)

All the arguements above supporting apple are flawed to say the reciever can set their own message font styles for recieved emails is crazy- follow that logic and there is no point having a mail editor that change font styles.

I want them to see what i can see - same same

Come on Apple fix this

ctinia

Level 1

0 points

Aug 23, 2012 10:05 AM in response to colinmccleery

Would you be able give a little more information on the MacWorld article? Or has anyone else found that article? I have been looking for at +15 mins and have tried every combination of a search and have had no luck. We are a small office but I am constantly hearing the complaint that our outgoing mail looks unprofessional because it is so large. I personally am using the message font add-on but now we have people using Lion and Mountain Lion and it is not compatible. Plus it doesn't seem to work with the signatures.

Thanks.

Apple needs to seriously look at this problem!

Aug 23, 2012 3:48 PM in response to ctinia

Ctinia

Yours is a classic example.

To read and write emails you are tricking os x Mail by using an oversized font. It works fine for you but is a pain for your clients/ readers. I wont allow this as part of my business standards - I want my emails to look professional and the same whatever device I use

One crazy version of this is if I read an email I have sent from my PC on my airbook, the font is fine.

Another issue is I have cut and paste my signature into mail and it looks right. When I use the same size font to write the email and send it, Signature is fine font 12 - and body is like font 7

Can anyone recommend email software for os x that works (Outlook for Mac would be great but it wont work with a google account)

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

116,084 points

Aug 23, 2012 5:11 PM in response to Aussie David

Aussie David wrote:

Can anyone recommend email software for os x that works (Outlook for Mac would be great but it wont work with a google account)

Thunderbird has been mentioned in the past.

Is Outlook really not compatible with gmail?

Nov 13, 2012 5:02 AM in response to aRKay

i am a long term windows user and have spent 1 week on the mac, this issue is killing me and drives me insane.

i got IT to format the mac with windows. problem solved.

Dec 15, 2012 3:14 PM in response to aRKay

This is a serious flaw, therefore a bug. Mail is not useable unless the font size is readable on incoming messages.

I have recommended the MBA 13 to others who use their browser to access email online. I want it offline, too.

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

116,084 points

Dec 15, 2012 4:16 PM in response to jeannedes

Are you actually using 10.6 (which is what this forum is for)? Of course no one is ever going to fix that when 10.8 is current. Or are you actually referring to 10.8?

Dec 17, 2012 4:36 AM in response to jeannedes

Try this (it worked for me in 10.4.x and 10.5.8) and may work for 10.6.x.

In Terminal, type: defaults write com.apple.mail MinimumHTMLFontSize 12

May 21, 2013 7:29 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom,

I recently upgraded to 10.8.3 and use MS Office 2011 (macbook pro 15" 2011 model) hoping to fix this size issue but have the same issues re weird font sizing for received emails or sent emails when communicating to PC users. Commonly the issue seems to be my tahoma 11 receives as 13 and what I get is often 9.

Other Macbook pro users and macbook air users in my office do not get the same issue.

Did it ever get resolved? I look around and am struggling to see up to date posts on this subject in other forums.

Thanks.

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

116,084 points

May 21, 2013 8:41 AM in response to Phattmoster

Phattmoster wrote:

Other Macbook pro users and macbook air users in my office do not get the same issue.

I have not been aware of a fix, but if others who have the same kind of emails are not getting the issue, there should be a way for you to duplicate their situation. Sorry, I don't know how to go about doing that other than for you to try to find out how their systems differ from your own.

Jo UK

Level 1

9 points

Jun 10, 2013 1:26 PM in response to aRKay

This too is driving me mad! I have tried everything to get my font look larger when typing. If I increase the font size it increases to the inbox I am sending it to and look far too big. I just want to be able to see the font larger on my screen when in Y mail... please help.. heres hoping its not too technical.. step by step instructions please!!! or my glasses are going to have to turn into magnify glasses !!

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

116,084 points

Jun 10, 2013 2:17 PM in response to Jo UK

Jo UK wrote:

If I increase the font size it increases to the inbox I am sending it to and look far too big.

Normally changing the font size in Mail > Preferences > Fonts and Colors > Message Font does not affect what the recipient of your email will see. What OS version are you using?