How to show formatting marks as default in Outlook

Question

Hi-- Am using office 365 at work, and have always had the setting toggled to show formatting marks in Outlook emails.  After a recent update, Outlook frequently defaults to show no formatting marks.  And then I will go to Format Text and click the show formatting marks button to make them show up again.  But after a while, I will compose a new email, and the formatting marks will turn off.  And this continues to happen even after turning it on, closing Outlook, rebooting made no difference, etc.  Any way to change the preferences so that it will stay on by default?  

I've also tried going into Options/Mail/Editor Options and double-checked that "Show all formatting marks" is checked.  But after a while, when I compose or reply to a new email, formatting marks will be back to off.

And I have not noticed this in Word.

Thanks

Answer 1

Hello GJ2020,

Thanks for your post here.

Firstly, If someone suggested you contact the support via phone number, it is a spam and please ignore the spam or report it. We are monitoring our forum to avoid the spam. And we will have actions for these replies immediately once we notice them.

From your description, I understand that the formatting marks will be turned off automatically in Outlook. Based on my knowledge and test, the formatting marks will be always turned on when I select the option. Given your situation, please try the following suggestions to see if it works for you:

1.  As a workaround, please try checking all options in Editor Options and then check the result.

2.  Repair Outlook by following the steps in this article: Repair an Office application.

3.  If quick repairing cannot work, you can uninstall it and then download it again to see the result.

If the problem still persists, please kindly provide the screenshot about your Outlook product information to me. To get it, please click File > Office Account, please capture the screenshot under Product Information section and share it with me.

Thanks for your time and I will try my best to help you.

Regards,

Seven

Answer 2

Hi GJ2020,

If you need more help, please feel free to let me know.

Regards,

Seven

Answer 3

I thought I had this fixed but it turned out not to be true.

Per your request, here is the version:

While trying to solve this problem I discovered the "Default paragraph style" does not "stick":

If I start an email and then, from the Format Text ribbon, save the paragraph settings for all documents (NormalEmail.dotm template), it will show "Normal" in the "Default paragraph style" dropdown.  However, if I exit Outlook and restart, the dropdown will again be blank.  I tried deleting NormalEmail.dotm and letting Outlook recreate it.  No change.

I'm pretty sure this problem is a bug that came with the last Microsoft 365 update (maybe two weeks ago?).  I just checked two other computers in the house (they're also running Microsoft 365) and found they both have the same problem.

Answer 4

I'm having the same problems.