How do I increase the text size of incoming messages in Mail? There does not seem to be a preference selection to cover this. I think the problem is that messages from PC users comes in a font that Mac doesn't have, and it substitutes something microscopic.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7), incoming_email_text_size
Hi dalte,
to change font/size/color in mail:
open mail
go to the white menu bar at the top of the screen
click on the mail menu
chose prefrences
when the preferences window opens, click on the "Fonts & Colors" icon from the tool bar at the top
one of the options is "Message font:" on that row, to the left, click the button "Select"
a font window will open
on the right hand side of the font window, there will be a column labeled "size"
from the list of font sizes click on the font size you want
then close the font window.
then close the preferences window
Thank you for replying. This solution does not solve the problem for INCOMING email. The settings as you describe them work only for outgoing mail we are sending. Most of the mail that comes in is in extremely tiny print. This is especially frustrating because our previous mac with an older version of Mail brought in mail usually the same size as our outgoing mail or at least not in the microscopic size this computer defaults to. Thanks for trying.
Those instructions will also apply to any plain text message. You can view the any rich text message in plain text in Apple Mail with View > Message > View Plain Text Alternative. Then it should use the font that you specified.
You can also use:
Menu Bar> Format> Style> Bigger to enlarge email
the keyboard shortcut is command and "+"
The tiny font problem usually involves HTML mail coming from Windows users. Fortunately, you can set Mail to have a minimum that it will use for HTML messages... but you've got to go to the Terminal for it. Quit Mail, open the Terminal and paste in the following command:
defaults write com.apple.mail MinimumHTMLFontSize 12
Note that you can use any size you like, it does not have to be 12. If you don't like it, run the command again with a different number.
Thank you, Thomas.
The Terminal patch is a winner.
We appreciate your help, and the thoughtfulness of the others who responded to our question.
Dale.
Glad to be of assistance!
That's cool. I used the new Apple Support Communities bookmark feature for this one.
Yay! Just found this. Thank goodness. So much thanks to you Thomas Reed!!! My aging eyes are so grateful.
What is the "Terminal"?
I am new to Mac so I had to look it up. It's in the application folder under utilities. If you are a previous pc user it's like entering commands on a pc in the run window.
The terminal fix worked in previous OS versions, but doesn't seem to work for me in Mavericks. Anyone else?
how do I increase the text size of incoming messages in Mail?
