My font and format in emails changed and I'd like it back to the default setting.

Question

My font and format in emails changed and I'd like it back to the default setting.

Answer 1

Hello Brenda Groenewald,

Thank you for posting to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

In the New Outlook for Mac, the default font settings are managed in your main application preferences. Recently, Microsoft updated the standard default font across all Office apps from Calibri to Aptos, so depend on when your app last updated, your original default was likely one of those two. 

Here are the steps to get your font settings back to normal in the New Outlook for Mac: 

Step 1: Access Font Settings 

1. Open Outlook and click Outlook in the Mac menu bar at the very top of your screen. 
2. Select Settings... (Keyboard shortcut: Cmd + ,). 
3. Click the Fonts icon. 

Step 2: Reset Default Fonts 

1. Under the "Default composition font" section, click the Font... button next to New mail. 
2. Apply the following standard settings: 
3. Font: Aptos or Calibri 
4. Font Style: Regular 
5. Size: 11 
6. Font color: Automatic 
7. Click OK. 
8. Repeat these exact same steps for the Reply or forward button. 

Tip: If your default settings are fine, but the text in a specific email you are currently typing has gotten messy, you can instantly strip the weird formatting away by highlighting the messy text in your email draft, then click the Clear Formatting icon (it looks like an 'Ab' with an eraser) in the ribbon at the top. 

I hope this helps you get your emails looking exactly the way you want them to again. Please feel free to reach back out if you run into any trouble with these steps. 

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Answer 2

If you use Gmail

✅ Reset Default Font & Style

1. Open Gmail
2. Click ⚙️ Settings (top right)
3. Click “See all settings”
4. Scroll to Default text style
5. Click “Reset”
6. Choose your preferred font (e.g., Sans Serif, size Normal)
7. Click Save Changes

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📧 If you use Microsoft Outlook (Desktop)

✅ Reset Fonts

1. Go to File → Options → Mail
2. Click “Stationery and Fonts”
3. Under:
   • New mail messages
     • Reply/forward messages
     1. Click Font → choose default (Calibri, size 11)
     2. Click OK and save

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📧 If you use Outlook Web

✅ Reset Formatting

1. Click ⚙️ Settings
2. Search “Compose and reply”
3. Change font to default (Calibri / Arial)
4. Set size (usually 11 or 12)
5. Save