In reply, font switches from Arial to TNR

[John Gray]

I've been annoyed by this for quite some time now!

When replying to a message in Outlook 2003 (using Word 2003 as the mail editor) I tend to interleave new text among the original text, and quite often, when creating blank space with Enter presses, the font switches from Arial 10 or 11 to Times New Roman 12, and has to be switched back. No doubt this is because of some devious default, but is it possible to switch off this change 'somewhere'? Thanks!

[HansV]

See if it works better if you don't use Word as e-mail editor.

[John Gray]

I shall try, but whatever gets used instead seems to be somewhat more restrictive!

[HansV]

The built-in Outlook e-mail editor is simpler than Word, but for most, if not all e-mail messages that is not really a problem.

[JoeP]

Have you checked your font setting for a reply? With an email open for reply go to Tool | Options | General | Email Options (button) | Personal Stationery.

Joe

[jscher2000]

I recently changed my default message format in Outlook 2003 from plain text to HTML, but using the built-in editor. There do seem to be some unpredictable triggers for "my" font changing to Times, which I assume (?!) is the font of the template on which the sender's message was based. Sometimes, this seems to happen if I type a few paragraphs, then press Enter on the first line to type a new paragraph above my paragraphs. Definitely annoying. (I anticipate getting Outlook 2010 soon, which I am absolutely positive will solve all my Outlook problems. )

[StuartR]

...(I anticipate getting Outlook 2010 soon, which I am absolutely positive will solve all my Outlook problems...

I still see this annoying switch to Times New Roman with Outlook 2010. I have no idea what sequence of actions triggers it.

[HansV]

I have a suspicion (but no proof) that it has to do with the default font for Internet Explorer; this is set to Times New Roman if you have never changed it (Internet Options control panel, Fonts... button). It seems likely that Outlook's HTML rendering engine uses or shares some Internet Explorer code. So perhaps, if Outlook somehow loses track of formatting, it falls back to the default font.

[JoeP]

I believe that Outlook uses the Word rendering engine. Whether or not the Word rendering engine uses or shares IE code is something only Microsoft knows.

Joe

[HansV]

Outlook 2007 and 2010 use a HTML rendering engine based on that of Word (but not Word itself). Outlook 2003 and before (if not using Word as mail editor) had a different HTML rendering engine. As you say, we do not know whether these share Internet Explorer code, but especially for Outlook 2003 and before, that doesn't seem unlikely.

[JoeP]

According to Word 2007 HTML & CSS in Outlook 2007 & The power of Word in Outlook, Outlook 2007 & 2010 use the Word rendering engine. Older versions of Outlook used the IE rendering engine. It was switched in Outlook 2007 for security reasons. The continuation in Outlook 2010 kicked off a controversy mostly manufactured by email marketers. See Outlook 2010 will use Word 2010 HTML rendering engine.

Joe

[HansV]

OK, thanks. That makes it harder to explain why Stuart experiences the same problem in Outlook 2010...

[John Gray]

I have a suspicion (but no proof) that it has to do with the default font for Internet Explorer; this is set to Times New Roman if you have never changed it (Internet Options control panel, Fonts... button). It seems likely that Outlook's HTML rendering engine uses or shares some Internet Explorer code. So perhaps, if Outlook somehow loses track of formatting, it falls back to the default font.

I've changed the Default font in IE to Arial, and changed the Outlook editor back to Word, so we'll see how it goes. So far, so good!

[StuartR]

OK, thanks. That makes it harder to explain why Stuart experiences the same problem in Outlook 2010...

I don't see this frequently, but I have DEFINITELY seen it since upgrading to Office 2010.

Next time it happens I will report exactly which fonts were involved.

[StuartR]

I have been trying to remember the sequence of steps that led to this problem, and I think it might be caused by replying to an email that was received in Microsoft Rich Text format, and switching the format to HTML in the middle of an edit.

I couldn't reproduce it just now, but I am pretty sure this is what led to the situation in the past.