How to Change Font in Outlook: A Complete Guide

Changing fonts in Microsoft Outlook sounds simple — and often it is. But depending on whether you want to change a single email, your default composing font, your reply font, or the font used in reading panes, the process differs. Understanding how Outlook handles typography across these contexts makes the difference between a one-time fix and a permanent solution.

Why Outlook Has Multiple Font Settings

Outlook separates font control into distinct layers:

• Composing new messages — the font you see when writing a fresh email
• Replying and forwarding — can be set independently from compose
• Plain text messages — uses a separate fixed-width font setting
• Stationery and themes — affect the overall visual style of composed messages
• Reading pane — in some versions, you can adjust how received messages display locally

Each layer is controlled from a different location in settings. This is why many users change one font and are puzzled when it doesn't affect replies, or vice versa.

How to Change the Default Font for New Messages

In Outlook for Windows (Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, 2021):

1. Go to File → Options
2. Select Mail from the left panel
3. Click Stationery and Fonts
4. Under "New mail messages," click Font
5. Choose your preferred font, style, size, and color
6. Click OK through each dialog to save

This only affects new messages you compose. Reply and forward fonts remain unchanged unless you update them separately in the same Stationery and Fonts window.

How to Change Fonts for Replies and Forwards

Still in File → Options → Mail → Stationery and Fonts:

• Under "Replying or forwarding messages," click Font
• Set your preferred font for those contexts independently

This is especially relevant for professional environments where replies may need to visually differentiate your added text from the original quoted message.

Changing Font Mid-Message (Per Email)

For a one-off change inside a specific email you're writing:

1. Highlight the text you want to format (or click before typing)
2. Use the Format Text tab in the ribbon
3. Use the Font dropdown, size selector, bold/italic/underline, or color controls

You can also right-click selected text and use the mini formatting toolbar that appears. These changes apply only to that message and don't affect your defaults.

Changing Fonts in Outlook on the Web (OWA) ✉️

Outlook on the Web (accessed via browser at outlook.com or a Microsoft 365 hosted account) has a different settings path:

1. Click the gear icon (Settings) in the top right
2. Search for "Default font" or navigate to Mail → Compose and reply
3. Under the Message format section, choose your default font, size, and color

Changes here apply only to your browser-based Outlook experience. They don't sync to the desktop app.

Outlook for Mac: Font Settings Location

On Outlook for Mac:

1. Open Outlook → Preferences
2. Click Fonts
3. You'll see separate controls for HTML messages, plain text messages, and notes

Mac and Windows versions of Outlook don't share font preferences — each stores them locally on the device.

Plain Text vs. HTML Emails: Why It Matters

HTML emails support full font customization — typeface, size, color, weight. Most Outlook users compose in HTML by default.

Plain text emails strip all formatting. Outlook renders them in a monospaced font (typically Courier New), and you can adjust this in settings, but the recipient's email client ultimately controls how plain text displays on their end. Any font change you make for plain text is a local display preference, not a formatting instruction sent to the recipient.

Factors That Affect Your Experience 🖥️

Several variables shape how font changes behave in practice:

• Outlook version — Microsoft 365 (subscription) vs. one-time purchase versions (2019, 2021) have slightly different UI layouts; settings are in the same general location but menus may look different
• Account type — Exchange, Microsoft 365, IMAP, and POP accounts can behave differently, particularly in OWA vs. desktop
• Admin policies — In corporate environments, IT administrators can restrict or override font settings through group policy
• Operating system — Windows and Mac Outlook store preferences separately and have different menus
• Recipient's email client — Even with a custom font set, if you choose a non-web-safe or non-standard font, the recipient's email client may substitute it with a default system font

When Font Changes Don't Stick

If your font keeps reverting, common causes include:

• Stationery or themes overriding your font settings — check if a theme is applied under Options → Mail → Stationery and Fonts → Theme
• Group policy enforcement in managed work accounts
• Signatures with their own hard-coded font styles conflicting with message defaults
• Templates (.oft files) that carry embedded formatting

Signature fonts are set separately: File → Options → Mail → Signatures, where each signature has its own font controls.

The Variable That Changes Everything

The right approach to font changes in Outlook depends heavily on context — whether you're adjusting a personal email account or a corporate one, using Outlook on a managed work device, accessing it through a browser, or switching between Windows and Mac. A change that works seamlessly in one setup may be restricted, overridden, or simply located somewhere different in another. Your specific version, account configuration, and how your organization has Outlook deployed are the pieces that determine which of these paths actually applies to you.