increase mail viewing font size???

This does not help at all with lilskye's question. Do you understand what he (and I, and probably thousands of Mail users) are asking? How can we make the text in Mail appear larger on the display? Why is the text size so tiny, with NO way to make it appear larger, other than changing the actual font size in the Mail Preferences, as you show in the graphic above? Yes, increasing the actual font size to 18 pt. will help the user see the font on the display because now the font size is bigger, but the person who receives the e-mail will not be pleased, especially if he/she must print the e-mail because it will now use more ink and waste paper.

What we want to know: IS THERE A WAY TO INCREASE THE FONT SIZE ON THE DISPLAY WITHOUT HAVING TO INCREASE THE ACTUAL FONT SIZE IN THE MAIL PREFERENCES, AS YOU HAVE IN YOUR GRAPHIC, ABOVE. For example, Microsoft Word and Excel have a slider on the bottom right of the window which allows a user to increase the image seen on the display WITHOUT having to increase the actual font size. DOES MAIL HAVE SUCH A FUNCTION? If not, it should be one or the priorities in the next upgrade.

I wish I had an answer for this as well. I am frustrated by this very issue as well. In fact, searching for a solution is what brought me here. The only reason I am making any reply is to second the apparent emotion Dean expresses when he goes full font! My frustration is increased by reading the answers given That the previous answers obviously missed the meaning of the problem is best illustrated by viewing this example:

This is 18 point font viewed in contrast to 8 point font used previously in this reply. What we see when typing an email is the previous 8 point font. This 18 point font is not the solution. It looks ridiculous to the recipient! Apple pay attention please.

Thank you for enduring that example. It was painful to type as well. :-|

emiliefromca wrote:

Your post is listed under Apple Music. This won't help the Mail team to get notified about the issue.

Posting anywhere in these forums won't get the Mail team notified about anything. This is a user-to-user technical support forum. The only Apple employees reading here are the Hosts. They are only checking to make sure things conform to the Terms of Use.

If you want Apple to know what you think about something, use the feedback page:

Product Feedback - Apple

From 2015 to 2017 and Apple still hasn't responded to this?? I'm tired of going blind trying to read my screen and I'm just about ready to go get the 2016 version of Outlook so I can handle my email...

Just was writing a long Email and my lettering was getting too small to read as my eyes are not getting any better. A quick google search brought me here to find out how to increase the appearance of the mail I am writing, without changing the font size, as this would affect the way the mail is received (as clearly pointed out by the previous contributors). It is utterly disappointing that (apparently) this cannot be done! I second your disappointment over the lack of progress here.

As a loyal apple fan (my first mac was a mac classic in 1991), I am getting more and more disappointed; sloppy software upgrades more concerned with appearance than functionality (when was the last real killer new feature in OSX?), deteriorating security (remember the recent embarrassing mishaps), more and more the embrace of the Mac ecosystem only without consideration for other platforms, and getting more and more expensive relative to the competition (who wants to pay £2000 or even £3000 for a laptop that you can no longer upgrade?).

I had never run a computer till 2004. I was forced to create a letter in Microsoft Word. My wife had to show me how to do everything, even how to turn on a computer. By 2006 I was fed up with the fixable, but ignored problems in Word. That was the whole reason I tried a Mac in 2006ish. The first intel production was my introduction to Mac.

I have been consistent in using OS X, iOS and Apple TV with only a small amount of learning time spent in Linux. This issue with the font in Apple Mail is reminiscent of the frustration I felt with Microsoft Word. Yes, I am considering abandoning Macintosh over something as small as this is. I've often heard people explain, "it isn't the ______, but it is the principal of the thing."

I feel like the Apple of today is equivalent to the Microsoft of 1-15 years ago. Apple is profitable beyond imagination and occupies the drivers seat in regard to the direction of consumable computation. The "little things" they overlook to make a dollar may be opening the door for another OS (linux? Windows again? who knows) to step in and gain the attention of a dissatisfied faction in the apple community. It again reminds me of the way that Mac stepped in when Windows was flailing in much the same way.

Well said jstockton. I'm relatively new to the iMac. I love the hardware but some of the software drives me bananas, like this simple thing of trying to make Mail readable. The suggestion above of using command + works for part of the screen ie individual emails but not for the list of folders nor the threads in that folder. And don't get me started on the problems with the spreadsheet application, Numbers!

Not sure if this has been answered yet but if you go Mail>Preferences>Fonts and colours and change the "Message Font" to something larger (click Select) and select a larger font there this will change the font as you see it when typing your email. However, it will not change how the recipient sees the received message.

I set mine to Arial 24 and it reads when typing a nice size but it still arrived as size 11/12ish.

Hope that helps

Here is your solution: Use Classic View

In Mail > Preferences > Viewing select the "Use classic layout". Now go to Fonts and you will be able to select font. Only works when you are in classic view.

Thank you so much for your help. 🙂

As an addition to your solution, after setting the "message list font" to the desired size you can go back and disable classic view, and the system will still keep the larger font for viewing emails. Then you can change the "message font" to any size you wish for the emails sent.

Having the same issue. I just want to VIEW it larger on my tiny screen (with my weak eyes) but don't want it to appear HUGE on the receiving end.

Surely there's a fix from Apple -- how do we get a response??

People. mwally28 explained the solution above. When you change the default font size in preferences it changes how messages (both reading and composing) appear on your computer but does not change how a message you send appears to the receiver. That depends on their default font settings. If you have Gmail or any other web client you can try it by sending yourself messages composed at different font settings and reading them there—they will all look the same. The original problem at the top of this thread simply doesn't exist.

Note this only holds for setting default font size. If you change font within a message then the receiver will see the change.

Nope, the first method this page suggests only changes the reading size for the current message. As soon as you go on to another message it's back to the way it was. And the second method--zooming the whole OS--is insane since it affects everything, not just Mail. That's mostly for vision-impaired people who need help seeing anything on the screen. It's not for changing the view settings of a specific app.

There is a simple solution. mwally explained it above. This issue should be closed.

Thank you for all the patient clarifications. This has bothered me since I got my MacBook. Apple should make its instructions more clear so we do not have to trouble other users with unnecessary questions.

Apple does not care. The helpful people here do not understand: Yes, it's easy to change the size of the messages themselves, but NOT THE FOLDERS AND ACCOUNTS of the app on the left side. This complaint has been going on for years. I am becoming as frustrated as my 84 year old father. I will not be bothered by getting into the code for some esoteric fix, either.