Outlook 2003 - how the HECK can I view my emails in Arial (not Times)?

[shiphen]

Hi

How do I get Outlook2003 to display emails (when viewing not editing) in Arial and not in Times New Roman?

I have tried *everything* !! And am getting DESPERATE.

I have tried setting internet explorer 8 (I tried MSIE 9 too out of desperation but have now uninstalled it) MSIE8 > Tools > Internet Options > Fonts > Latin Based > WebPage Font = Arial

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Message format >
Word 2003 to Edit email messages
...But this Word2003 is not used when just VIEWing an email.

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Use this stationery by default > None

AND I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Use this stationery by default > Johns_Stationery
(I specially set up Johns_Stationery with Arial, 11pt in use)
...but this makes no difference to viewing an email.

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Use this stationery by default > Fonts > When composing a new message > Arial, regular 11 points

AND

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Use this stationery by default > Fonts > When replying and forwarding > Arial, regular 11 points

AND

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Use this stationery by default > Fonts > When composing and reading plain text > Arial, regular 11 points

AND

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Use this stationery by default > Fonts > International Font > Western European > Proportional Font > Arial > Set as user defined


AND

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Stationery Fonts > Use the font specified in stationery (if specified)


AND

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Stationery Fonts > Use my font when replying and forwarding

AND

I have also tried Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Stationery and Fonts > Stationery Fonts > Always use my fonts.

I have even changed the signature to no signature and I have tried editing the signature to be in Arial AND later I tried rebuilding the signature to have text but to not have any font...

NONE of the above seem to have any effect on how an new HTML email is displayed (if it does not contain its own font).

Can anyone help?? (Before I give up the will to live!)

John

 

[Neutron16]

Default font in Outlook 2003 should be Courier New, and NOT Times New Roman.

What do you have in MSIE8 > Tools > Internet Options > Fonts > Latin Based > Plain text Font ?
Try to change it too.

 

[Irene]

Perhaps this will help:
How to view all e-mail messages in plain text format

 

[shiphen]

Default font in Outlook 2003 should be Courier New, and NOT Times New Roman.

What do you have in MSIE8 > Tools > Internet Options > Fonts > Latin Based > Plain text Font ?
Try to change it too.

Wait - the problem is for reading my HTML emails (not my plain text ones)!

J

 

[shiphen]

Perhaps this will help:
How to view all e-mail messages in plain text format

I agree that if all else fails I could read EVERYTHING in plain text, but that's very 1990s Darling.

No, I want to read and write in bold, colour and italics. And I want to do so in a fon that doesnt hurt my eyes (i.e. almost anything sans serif and defintiely NOT Times New Roman).

How hard can it be in 2011?
(I know, I know our office is stuck in a time warp by forcing us to keep using Outlook2003, but SURELY there is a way of doing it! In fact there *HAS* to be a way of doing it because my Outlook2003 used to work like that!!)

J

 

[Irene]

In fact there *HAS* to be a way of doing it because my Outlook2003 used to work like that!!)

Is this a recent occurrence?

Are all users in your office experiencing the same problem?

 

[shiphen]

In fact there *HAS* to be a way of doing it because my Outlook2003 used to work like that!!)

Is this a recent occurrence?

Are all users in your office experiencing the same problem?

Yes, it is a recent occurrence on my main (office) WinXP Pro computer.
I'm less sure about my home Win7 x64 computer.

I have also just been checking on my (also WinXP Pro) LAPTOP and it does NOT have the same problem! On this laptop, if you change the font in Internet Explorer8
MSIE8 > Tools > Internet Options > Fonts > Web Page fonts > [whatever font]...
then whatever you change the font to, will be ALSO used as the font that msOutlook2003 uses to view emails (!)

However although I have made every setting that I can find the same on both my WinXP computers on my main (office) PC and also on my home Windows 7 x64 PC the font on all VIEWED (rather than edited) emails always seems to be Times New Roman on everything except my laptop. :^[

 

[Irene]

Detect and Repair has a setting to restore default settings - although I expect you would lose other customization. Maybe just use the detect and repair:
How to understand the repair feature in Office 2003 and in Office XP
.
.
.

On-demand detect and repair

To run the Detect and Repair feature in your Office programs, follow these steps:

1. Start an Office program.
2. On the Help menu, click Detect and Repair.
3. In the Detect and Repair dialog box, do any of the following:
   • Click to select the Restore my shortcuts while repairing check box. By default, this check box is selected. If you select the Restore my shortcuts while repairing option, Detect and Repair will keep your custom Office shortcuts. If you do not select this option, Detect and Repair will remove your custom Office shortcuts.
   • Click to select the Discard my customized settings and restore default settings check box. If you select the Discard my customized settings and restore default settings option, Detect and Repair will set the following back to the state that they appeared in when you first installed Office:
     • The Assistant character selection.
     • Most-recently-used entries on the File menu will be removed.
     • The size of the program window for all programs.
     • Menu and toolbar position and any customizations.
     • The security level for each program.
     • View settings in the program, such as the Calendar view in Outlook.
     • You must re-enter your User Name and Initials when you restart your Office programs.
4. Click Start.
5. Click Ignore if the Close Office Programs dialog box displays the following message (where program is any Office program that is currently running): In order to correctly pick up or restore your settings, the following programs must be closed:
   Microsoft program
6. After the repair process has completed, click OK to the following message where edition is the version of Office that you have installed (for example, Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003):Microsoft Office edition Setup completed successfully.

 

[shiphen]

Thank you - yes Detect-and-Repair is was a good (if painful) suggestion... and if you select "Discard my customized settings", yes it did manage to bring back MSIE 8's font to be controlling what font HTML emails are viewed through. (Hallelujah)

Getting replies, new emails, signatures etc all into a matching font was harder... After MUCH time-wasting experimentation, it now appear that there is a genuine bug in Outlook2003 whereby
A) It doesnt really like Arial 11. (Arial 10 and Arial 12 seem to be fine.)
B) It doesnt like you messing with Stationery - just leave it blank!
Because if you mess with Stationery, at some (random) point it then suddenely decides that emails will be no longer viewed (and I do not mean edited!) through the MSIE v8 web font and once it has done this, there is no way back!

NB So far I have done this experimentation on WinXP. I'll let you know in due course if the problems are different on Win7.

What I find surprising is that nobody else seems to have found this bug !

J

 

[Irene]

Keep up the good work - let us know how it goes.

 

[shiphen]

OK I am very nearly happy - but only via some genuine hacking.

After doing the repair and selecting
"Discard my customized settings and restore default settings"
I now have Arial back for viewing emails (if Arial is what is selected in MSIEv8 > Internet Options > Fonts > Latin Based > WebPage font > Arial).

Also when replying and forwarding I can set the colour of my Signature to be whatever I choose using:
Outlook2003 > Tools > Options > Mail Format > Signatures > Edit > [then set the font and colour to whatever I choose - in this case 12pt Arial, Black]

It turns out that the ONLY way to change the font was to edit the raw HTML in the signature file (which is an HTML file) using a text editor.

I find it disgusting that after all this time Microsoft Outlook2003 STILLLn can not be set up to function sensibly and cleanly using normal user tools. And the very moment I can ditch those quasi-monopoly *******s at Microsoft, I shall be dancing on their collective grave.

 

[shiphen]

In the end, after much experimentation, the ONLY way forward was to edit the signature NOT using any microsoft product and manually edit the HTML to change the font from Times New Roman to Arial.

Bl**dy Microsoft. It utterly disgusts me that after all this time it they still havent fixed their products so that they can be used to product normal-looking emails. I shall be dancing on their grave the very moment I am allowed to get rid of msOffice.

 

[Irene]

I think you would probably find Office 2007 & 2010 have most, if not all of the features you require. They have come a long way since the 2003 version.

However, I am pleased that you have managed to achieve a somewhat acceptable outcome for the time being.

 

[shiphen]

The remaining thorn in my side is that Outlook2003 is not happy at 11px Arial. It seems that it HAS to be either 12 or 10px.

We are EXTREMELY resistent to upgrading to Outlook 2007 or 2010. This is mainly because of the massive cost to upgrade the software for all our company. Also we would probably need to upgrade all our hardware too. And if you factor in the hardware, the new O/S, the new OEM msOffice plus all the engineer's installation time this works out at about GBP 800 per seat.

GBP 800 per seat just because Microsoft cant write decent software?
Maybe some day but you have to admit that it does kind of stick in the gullet.

 

[bigmck]

The remaining thorn in my side is that Outlook2003 is not happy at 11px Arial. It seems that it HAS to be either 12 or 10px.

We are EXTREMELY resistent to upgrading to Outlook 2007 or 2010. This is mainly because of the massive cost to upgrade the software for all our company. Also we would probably need to upgrade all our hardware too. And if you factor in the hardware, the new O/S, the new OEM msOffice plus all the engineer's installation time this works out at about GBP 800 per seat.

GBP 800 per seat just because Microsoft cant write decent software?
Maybe some day but you have to admit that it does kind of stick in the gullet.

I have Outlook 2003 and have my font on Arial 12 pt but I do see an option for 11 pt. If your problem has not been solved yet, post back and I will see what I can do to help.

 

[shiphen]

No the problem is not yet fixed at my end.

To recap, regarding HTML emails, I am trying to get the EVERYTHING the same size, colour and font:
i.e.
- The text AND signature when writing new emails
- The text AND signature when Forwarding emails
- The text AND signature when Replying to emails

Yes, I can get the text into 11 point Arial under certain cirmstances, however I cant seem to get the signature to match it!

Many thanks

J

 

[bigmck]

No the problem is not yet fixed at my end.

To recap, regarding HTML emails, I am trying to get the EVERYTHING the same size, colour and font:
i.e.
- The text AND signature when writing new emails
- The text AND signature when Forwarding emails
- The text AND signature when Replying to emails

Yes, I can get the text into 11 point Arial under certain cirmstances, however I cant seem to get the signature to match it!

Many thanks

J

Here is what I did. See if you did anything different. == I opened Outlook and clicked on Tools > Options > Mail Format. == On "Compose in this Message Format" - HTML == Check "Use Microsoft Office Word to edit emails" == No Stationary == Click on "Fonts" to enter the 11 pt. Arial that you want. == Check "Automaticaly Display Rich Text" == Check "Always Use My Fonts" == Exit that screen == Click on "Signatures" and make yours. == You can then save the file in the three spaces above "Signature". Let me know if that helps any.

 

[shiphen]

Hi BigMck

Thanks.
I tried all that. But the crunch problem seems to be: How do you create the Signature. The thing is that if you try to edit the font using the Edit Signature dialogue box within Outlook, that there is no option provided for a pixel size of 11.

But if I do not modify the font at at, all I get is the font of 12 point Time New Roman. [Gads I never want to see that font ever again in my entire life!]

The only other option is to try Advanced Edit. This then gives a warning saying "This will launch an editor that is not part of Microsoft Office Outlook. Do you want to continue? [Yes]/[No]"
If I then click yes, my Windows7 computer if I this fails to work. In fact it gives the error message of "Cound not find and editor for H (.) files. [OK]". For what it's worth, on my WinXP PCs, it then opens up msWord which DOES let you set Arial 7. The problem is that it doesnt seem to work when the signature is viewed in Outlook.

Out of desperation I tried looking for a file of the same name as my signature. And it turns out that there are three such files with the following extensions: .htm, .rtf and .txt.
I even tried editing the .htm file using Dreamweaver 2004 but I cant work out how to set the default font to actually appear in Outlook as 12 point Arial. [Aaaarrrggghhh!]

J

 

[bigmck]

You can use the Advanced Edit which opens up MS Word. MS Word does have Arial 11 Pt. == You could save yourself a lot of grief if you used Arial 12 pt. You said you knew how to do that.

 

[shiphen]

Like I say Arial 12 is too big.
a) It looks irritatingly large on my own computer screen.
b) It looks stupidly large on the screens of other people.

J