Emails sent from Mail looks terrible with different fonts, sizes etc.

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Level 1

2 points

Emails sent from Mail looks terrible with different fonts, sizes etc.

I have discovered that emails sent from Mail in OSX 10.11.3 looks different on the recipients computer. My default font is set to Calibri size 15 and I have chosen "Formatted text" when composing new emails. When I look at my emails at my recipients computers (different PCs with different versions of Outlook) it looks completely different. Parts of the email shows up with my standard font settings and other parts seems to have the Windows default settings (Times New Roman).

I use my computer for business purposes and this looks totally unprofessional, does anyone have a solution to this?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Mail font change different size

Posted on Feb 4, 2016 1:27 AM

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Answer 1

Carl 86 Author

Level 1

2 points

Feb 7, 2016 8:46 AM in response to Carl 86

I seem to have found a solution. I installed a plugin to Mail called "Universal Mailer". My recipients have verified that my emails now have the font and size I would like. I don´t know exactly what this plugin does but as opposed to @BobTheFisherman says it seems it is possible to "instruct" the recipients software which font to use when displaying my emails. Maybe Apple will incorporate the technology of this plugin in to Mail in the future. I generally don´t like to use third party software tweaks for basic functions.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

136,127 points

Feb 4, 2016 1:51 AM in response to Carl 86

The short answer is, there is no guarantee an email will look the same on a recipient's PC. What email client they use, what version it is, what fonts they have installed, how their email client is set up, etc., all have an affect on what they will see. About the only way to guarantee it will look the same is if you send them a screenshot of the email.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,127 points

Feb 4, 2016 7:32 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

BobTheFisherman wrote:

if the format of your email is important send it as an attached pdf file. Email display format is dependent on the recipient's email client capabilities and configuration.

That brings up an interesting point. I didn't include PDF files in my reply because I wasn't sure if fonts would be embedded in the PDF. If they are, that begs the question what the status is when sending a PDF with commercial fonts.

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Answer 4

Feb 4, 2016 7:42 AM in response to dialabrain

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format

"The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format used to present documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it."

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

136,127 points

Feb 4, 2016 7:54 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

thanks for the links Bob. I could have looked them up myself I suppose and it seems PDFs can embed fonts, I could have answered my own question by creating a PDF with a font I know my Windows machine doesn't have installed.

It still begs the question if it is legal to send a PDF with one or more embedded commercial fonts.

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Answer 6

Feb 4, 2016 7:59 AM in response to dialabrain

dialabrain wrote:

thanks for the links Bob. I could have looked them up myself I suppose and it seems PDFs can embed fonts, I could have answered my own question by creating a PDF with a font I know my Windows machine doesn't have installed.

It still begs the question if it is legal to send a PDF with one or more embedded commercial fonts.

Why don't you ask the owner of the font? Or ask Adobe.

But to my non-legal mind the answer seems simple. If I own a font then produce a document using this font what is the issue? Wouldn't that be the purpose of the font, to produce documents?

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Answer 7

Carl 86 Author

Level 1

2 points

Feb 4, 2016 8:37 AM in response to Carl 86

Hmm I´m definitely getting some interesting answers. Send my email as an attached PDF? That doesn´t seem very time effective. I have never experienced this problem before and I have used e-mails for like 15 years. I don´t know anyone who has this problem (even if they don´t send their e-mails as PDFs.)

This must be some kind of setting i missed, or a bug. The fonts in my signature always looks the same (no photo just text). If the whole e-mail was in Times New Roman I would also think it is a setting in the recipients computer, but the fonts are mixed. It seems highly unlikely that at least three of my recipients have chosen to have the first four sentences in the same font as I chose (Calibri 15) and then the rest of the email in Times New Roman and then the signature in the same font as I chose.😉

If no one else have experienced this it must be something wrong I do when composing e-mails, right?

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Answer 8

Feb 4, 2016 9:01 AM in response to Carl 86

I did not mean to imply you should send the "email" as a pdf file. I should have been more clear. Send the content that relies on a format as an attached pdf file. For example, a form with a specific font and layout should be sent attached as a pdf file. Or product marketing material that looks best with a specific font and layout should be sent as an attached pdf file. The reason remains that how an email is displayed in the recipient's email client is under the control of the recipient not the sender. So for format sensitive content use an attached pdf file.

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Answer 9

Carl 86 Author

Level 1

2 points

Feb 4, 2016 9:09 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

I understand what you mean. I send PDF documents all the time as attachments, I am not trying to make my regular e-mail look like marketing material. I just want the same font and font size throughout the entire e-mail. Maybe you didn´t read "If the whole e-mail was in Times New Roman I would also think it is a setting in the recipients computer, but the fonts are mixed. It seems highly unlikely that at least three of my recipients have chosen to have the first four sentences in the same font as I chose (Calibri 15) and then the rest of the email in Times New Roman and then the signature in the same font as I chose.😉"

It simply cannot be that that all these recipients somehow have chosen to display incoming e-mails in this crazy way. Since it is displayed in the same way on their computers the logical conclusion is that the problem is in my computer.

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Answer 10

Feb 4, 2016 7:20 AM in response to Carl 86

if the format of your email is important send it as an attached pdf file. Email display format is dependent on the recipient's email client capabilities and configuration.

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