Boldman17

Q: Change default font size in Notes App in OS X El Capitan

In previous versions of the Notes App in OS X, you could change the default font by altering the DefaultFonts.plist file. No real preferences option from within the app, but it still worked. Now, in OS X El Capitan, you cannot overwrite that file. And the problem is the default font size for Notes is really tiny and there's no way to make it bigger for all notes by default. Any notes you write on your iPhone for example, synchronize on the Mac with a font that just isn't readable. Any ideas of how to change it permanently?

OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 11:22 PM

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Q: Change default font size in Notes App in OS X El Capitan

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  • by Sparkleberry,

    Sparkleberry Sparkleberry Nov 7, 2015 5:51 AM in response to Boldman17
    Level 4 (3,110 points)
    Notebooks
    Nov 7, 2015 5:51 AM in response to Boldman17

    Click here and select the product(s) about which you have concerns or suggestions:

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

     

    When you do contact Apple to give them your feedback, note the statement at the top of the page:

    Use the form below to send us your comments. We read all feedback carefully, but please note that we cannot respond to the comments you submit.

  • by kindalu,

    kindalu kindalu Nov 11, 2015 9:13 AM in response to Boldman17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2015 9:13 AM in response to Boldman17

    The font is really really small on my Macbook Air.

     

    Is there any designer in Apple using Note App??? Please Help.

  • by mysunglasses,

    mysunglasses mysunglasses Nov 11, 2015 9:19 AM in response to Sparkleberry
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2015 9:19 AM in response to Sparkleberry

    I have got the same problem. The font is really small. I am considering moving to another app.

  • by BabakOnly,

    BabakOnly BabakOnly Nov 13, 2015 2:02 AM in response to Boldman17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 13, 2015 2:02 AM in response to Boldman17

    This is a very frustrating feature (anti-feature). However, I found a link with a decent solution.

    Basically, notes default settings is kept in a system's file @ Applications/Notes.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/DefaultFonts.plist!!!

     

    You need to open this file with an (nano) editor which runs on your Terminal.app, using the following command:

    1) Start your Terminal.app. Close Notes app

    2) Type "sudo nano /Applications/Notes.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/DefaultFonts.plist"

    3) It will prompt you for your admin password.

    4) Edit the file - its obvious

    5) Ctr-X to save and close.

     

    http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/how-to-change-the-default-fonts-text-size-in-os-xs-n otes-app

  • by Tom Strand,

    Tom Strand Tom Strand Nov 13, 2015 5:30 AM in response to BabakOnly
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Nov 13, 2015 5:30 AM in response to BabakOnly

    The solution from the tekrevue article doesn't work in El Capitan, probably because of System Integrity Protection.

     

    http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/205575/how-to-change-the-default-font-a nd-size-in-notes-on-el-capitan

  • by mysunglasses,

    mysunglasses mysunglasses Nov 13, 2015 8:57 AM in response to BabakOnly
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 13, 2015 8:57 AM in response to BabakOnly

    This does not work.

    I change the font,

    I put Cntl + X.

    The programme asks if I want to save.

    I say "Y".

    It proposes to push "Enter".

    I do that.

    It says:

    "[ Error writing /Applications/Notes.app/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/DefaultFonts.plist: Operation not  ]"

  • by gretchenfromma,

    gretchenfromma gretchenfromma Nov 27, 2015 12:56 AM in response to Boldman17
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Nov 27, 2015 12:56 AM in response to Boldman17

    How is the new notes a practical improvement? I too cannot read ANY of my previous notes without going in and changing the font individually. 

     

    Terrible clunky workaround for new notes:

     

    Create a template note with a small amount of text. Go to it and copy the text before creating a new note. Paste into new note. Highlight existing template text before starting to type in new note. New text will retain font size.

  • by Matt Pavelle,

    Matt Pavelle Matt Pavelle Nov 28, 2015 7:09 AM in response to mysunglasses
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 7:09 AM in response to mysunglasses

    The reason that does not work is due to El Capitan's new SIP (System Integrity Protection) - which one can turn off as follows:

     

    1. Restart your Mac.
    2. Before OS X starts up, hold down Command-R and keep it held down until you see an Apple icon and a progress bar. Release. This boots you into Recovery.
    3. From the Utilities menu, select Terminal.
    4. At the prompt type exactly the following and then press Return: csrutil disable
    5. Terminal should display a message that SIP was disabled.
    6. From the  menu, select Restart.

     

    However even after disabling SIP (which I'd suggest you not do unless you are aware of the repercussions) and editing the DefaultFonts.plist file (which I am now able to do), the default font size does not change in Notes.

  • by mmcevoy,

    mmcevoy mmcevoy Nov 28, 2015 8:00 AM in response to Matt Pavelle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 8:00 AM in response to Matt Pavelle

    So then what's your post about? If it doesn't allow the user to change the font size! Still waiting for Apple to resolve this.

  • by Matt Pavelle,

    Matt Pavelle Matt Pavelle Nov 28, 2015 8:05 AM in response to mmcevoy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 28, 2015 8:05 AM in response to mmcevoy

    Correct - this is unresolved.

     

    I'm simply pointing out to others that disabling SIP and using a means of fixing this problem from a version of the OS pre El Capitan does not fix the problem - so people should not bother trying this.

     

    Sorry if there was any confusion.

  • by e.f.,

    e.f. e.f. Jan 27, 2016 11:33 AM in response to Matt Pavelle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 27, 2016 11:33 AM in response to Matt Pavelle

    @Matt - thanks for trying that SIP disable. Mystified as to how that extreme measure could also not work. Does the plist file revert back when you launch Notes? If not, and your change remains, what the **** is it pulling from? (Is there any chance you misspelled font name or something?)

     

    All others - the only way this will change, as @sparkleberry said, is for hundreds of users to request it using http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html.

  • by Richard Pfeiffer,

    Richard Pfeiffer Richard Pfeiffer Feb 11, 2016 4:15 PM in response to Boldman17
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 11, 2016 4:15 PM in response to Boldman17

    The new El Capitan version of Notes has finally given me the note taker I needed. And yes, the inability to set the default font and size and the difficulties with fonts, period, on the iPhone can be really frustrating.


    But given how great the app is otherwise, this workaround is good enough for me, and I hope it may be useful to others:

     

    1. Create a note on your Mac
    2. Style the title and body text with the font, size, color, etc., that you prefer
    3. Before you open a new note on your Mac or your iOS device, open this note and copy the title and some of the body text
    4. Create a new note
    5. Paste the text into the new note
    6. Write over the existing title and text, saying what you wanted to say in the new note

     

    If you need to create a numbered list, just type a "1", a period, and a space, and your list will use the same font info you were using at the time. Similarly, you can type an asterisk and a space or a hyphen and a space to have bulleted and dashed lists retain your font settings.

     

    Is this painless? No.

     

    Should Apple fix the problem? Yes.

     

    But I love the new Notes app and this has meant that I can keep using it.

     

    At last!

  • by JamesMcMac,

    JamesMcMac JamesMcMac Feb 14, 2016 2:20 PM in response to Richard Pfeiffer
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 14, 2016 2:20 PM in response to Richard Pfeiffer

    That sounds too painful. It's nice to run OS X at the higher resolution but some places the writing is just too small, like in notes.

    If you don't care about the font and just want the text bigger. Use the keyboard shortcut shift-command-+ to jump up a size at time before you start writing in a new note.

  • by d_austin,

    d_austin d_austin Mar 5, 2016 7:26 AM in response to Boldman17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 5, 2016 7:26 AM in response to Boldman17

    This doesn't answer the original post, but does allow some additional options. If you right click on the text, it will offer some more options as shown below:

    Screen Shot 2016-03-05 at 9.18.03 AM.png

    Go down to styles:

    Screen Shot 2016-03-05 at 9.22.56 AM.png

  • by pmdworks,

    pmdworks pmdworks Mar 23, 2016 7:19 PM in response to Boldman17
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 23, 2016 7:19 PM in response to Boldman17

    I have the same problem, create a note on iPhone and the font size looks good, go to Notes on Macbook Air and body font size is tiny.  If you use command+ to increase font size for Notes on the Mac then the same Note on the iPhone changes to tiny font size.

     

    I think what everyone would like to see with the new OS X 10.11 and iOS 9 Notes is not a change in default font size, but rather a user selectable, per-device Notes app font zoom (since every device has a different resolution and everyone has individual tastes).

     

    I emailed Tim Cook, sadly no response (yet)!

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