Level 1

76 points

increase mail viewing font size???

I have been tolerating this for years and am finally tired of it as there MUST be a way to fix this that I am unaware of.

I have my MacMail set to use an 11 pt Arial font when writing messages, which is a standard font size for letters, etc. However when you are reading or writing your message, it does not DISPLAY as 11 point, but teeny weeny as if you are using a 6 point font.

Increasing this in preferences to something like 18 point simply makes your display look larger (like 11 point) but then the message your recipient gets is monstrously huge because you are really sending them 18 point type!

Why is this not a normal Apple WYSIWYG view? I don't have this issue on anything else on my Macs (viewing Safari, Quicken, Quickbooks, Excel, Word, Text, Messages, whatever - only Mail messages.

There must be a fix for this - no? I literally am to the point where I have to use a magnifying glass to read what I'm typing! LOL!

Any help is appreciated.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Jul 4, 2015 5:04 AM

Top-ranking reply

mwally28

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Feb 5, 2018 1:41 AM

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

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35 replies

DncrDale

Level 1

12 points

May 21, 2018 7:20 PM in response to varghesesa

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??

gh00al

Level 1

14 points

Jun 8, 2018 9:29 PM in response to Fuppie

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.

Jun 10, 2018 10:22 AM in response to gh00al

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.

Jun 10, 2018 6:52 PM in response to lilskye

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.

Jun 16, 2018 12:46 PM in response to lilskye

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

I have this issue too. The 11pt display size is too small. When I increase the display size to 14pt, the font size that is displayed on the sent email is twice smaller (8pt) than the original. It's a bug. Apple, we need a fix now!

mh2694

Level 1

8 points

Jan 30, 2018 8:56 PM in response to lilskye

I want to enlarge the font size in my message list but I am not given that option in preferences. Is there anyway to do this?

Feb 7, 2018 2:31 PM in response to lilskye

How on earth is this question not resolved yet by Apple. We handed you our fortunes, Apple...could you at least spare the few minutes it would take to fix this oversight and help us keep our sight?!

Mar 10, 2018 7:52 PM in response to lilskye

It really is ridiculous that this very basic feature is not enabled. This is a great example of things that make me embarrassed to own a Mac as opposed to a PC...

katgax

Level 1

4 points

Apr 25, 2018 1:09 AM in response to monicams

Great, thanks!

May 18, 2018 9:18 AM in response to monicams

This does not seem to work High Sierra (10.13) once you switch back to non-classical. This is very frustrating.

Fuppie

Level 1

4 points

Jun 8, 2018 5:46 AM in response to gh00al

Here is the solution...

https://www.lifewire.com/display-larger-font-os-x-mail-1172789

Jun 18, 2018 6:47 AM in response to gh00al

Thanks for such a complete reply . . . very helpful.

Best,

Susan

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[Personal Information Edited by Host]

Eric Root

Level 10

685,275 points

Jul 4, 2015 7:51 AM in response to lilskye

Try selecting the window and then use command - + to increase it to a readable size. Command - minus key to return to the normal size.

lilskye Author

Level 1

76 points

Jul 4, 2015 8:13 AM in response to Eric Root

Thanks for the suggestion, but this does not work, nor does the "Big A, Little A" become active. Not when you are WRITING an email. You can blow them up to read already sent emails and received emails, but what it driving me (and a LOT of others from what I can see) crazy, is why if you have your email set to write using Arial 11, it does write in that (so the receiver on the other end can see it as Arial 11) but what you see on the screen is Ariel 6 - a fraction of the size that you are writing in, making it ridiculously painful to write and proof a long email.

MacMail never did this until the Intel incarnations and I've never been able to fix it. I see online that everyone using Lion, ML, Mav & Yos are all still complaining about this with no solution, which is so odd, as usually everything in Mac is WYSIWYG. It only does this in Mail, not in Textedit or Safari or any other program on the Mac. It also doesn't do this on the iOS on the iPhone or iPad. Only on the actual computer Mail.

There must be a reason and/or solution.

Thanks!

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Jul 4, 2015 1:02 PM in response to lilskye

In Mail>Preferences>Fonts & Colors, what are the settings there?

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increase mail viewing font size???