How to stop Outlook from changing the justification of text from left aligned to fully justified.

Question

Almost all email newsletters that come to Outlook are shown with fully justified text with words auto-hyphenated at line breaks when the email is NOT sent that way from the sender. I've seen this from at least three different external senders.

How do we stop Outlook from changing the line justification of incoming emails so they are shown as they are intended by the sender?

Answer 1

Hi all,

The new Typography features are now available in production. The next step is that the feature is now being enabled by default starting with Current Channel Version 2403 (Build 17410.20000).

Since the initial release the team added controls to manage this feature in the client, Typography improvements in Word and Outlook for Windows (microsoft365.com).

Note:

• Since this thread is old it may get locked again. If you need further help, please post a new thread.
• There will be a new Typography article for Production shortly on https://support.microsoft.com/ 

In Outlook:

1. The new typography features are enabled in the Reading Pane. Default values are “on” for Beta Chanel and “on” for Production starting with Channel Version 2403 (Build 17410.20000).
2. To show the Reading Pane, click View > Reading Pane > Right or Bottom.
3. To turn off these features in Outlook Desktop, click File > Options > Mail > Editor Options > Advanced > Reading mode, and then clear the Advanced Typography in Reading Mode checkbox.
4. To turn off only Use Smart Justification or Use Hyphenationindividually, clear the corresponding check box.
5. The sender can disable the features for the emails they create, and those settings will not be overwritten by settings on recipient's computer.

Answer 2

... Outlook now fully justifies and over-hyphenates for all email, including HTML email (sent from Mailchimp or other mass email services). The Outlook client does this at the recipient display level, and there doesn't seem to be any easy way to turn it off. Those settings might work for Outlook to Outlook, in which case, there might be an email level override that somebody can work out.

Hmm ... I haven't seen that.

It might depend very much on one's computer environment and Outlook type and version.

I'm using the MS 365 desktop (not the 'New') Outlook on Windows 11, currently at Version 2408 (Build 17928.20156). What are you using?

My advanced typography settings in File > Options > Mail > Editor Options > Advanced are "Use Advanced Typography" is OFF, and "Disable Advanced Typography for outgoing mail" is also OFF.

None of my email correspondents sees any of my messages in Advanced Typography format, regardless of the email client either of us is using. Example client apps used by my correspondents include Thunderbird, Mac Mail, Outlook for Mac and Windows, various Android and iOS mail apps, and probably some webmail apps. Some have MS 365 (personal or business) mailboxes, and others use gmail or various other types of mail service.

When I send messages from my MS 365 outlook.com account via an Android app (Aqua Mail), those messages aren't being reformatted, either.

I don't see any received messages in Advanced Typography format, either in Outlook or in other clients such as that Android client app.

So ... with "Use Advanced Typography" turned off in desktop Outlook, my messages aren't being reformatted on sending, whether or not I also turn on "Disable Advanced Typography for outgoing mail".

Answer 3

When did this change? This was not standard practice earlier this year.

If this is an "enhancement," where do I express concerns about the change. Full justification makes text harder to read, not easier, and completely disregards any branding or styling that a business wishes to use in its emails or newsletters.

Answer 4

We are seeing this as a big issue. We are now unable to predict where the text will fall when we send an approved email for our clients. When I align something left or right, I expect it to stay there and not change the alignment or add in hyphens where they are not supposed to be. Please change this back to how it was immediately. I can't see why anyone would prefer to read their emails with justified text.

Answer 5

Dear Meg Cipar,

I agree with your comments!

I meant to say that this is how my Outlook (desktop version) behaves now, which is unacceptable. I have noticed this behaviour in the past two weeks but I am not sure exactly when it changed.

I agree that (full) justification makes text harder to read, not easier.