Customising your font style in Outlook

There are so many ways to customise the way you work in Outlook, but you can also change the way your emails look to add a few personal touches to your correspondence.

One of the simplest ways is to change the default font style for emails you send. You can do this through the Tools menu, then Options, Mail Format tab then Fonts button. Here you can select the font style for selected outgoing messages. Stick to common fonts though because your email will appear different when it arrives at its destination if the recipient doesn't have the same fonts installed as you. Little things like changing the colour or text size can help you create your own personal style.

The Stationery Picker option (also in the Mail Format tab) allows you to pick a background image with themed type style that will be used for all your messages. Again, pick carefully and avoid some of the more garish styles provided with Outlook. Or, get creative, and design your own stationery by either editing an existing stationery style or creating your own from scratch.

Lastly on the Mail Format tab you'll find the Signature options. It's good practice to create a basic signature containing your name, telephone number, address, inside-leg measurement etc. that will appear at the bottom of each email you write. This helps the recipients of your email get in touch. You can also use your signature to promote your website or latest customer offers. Once again, you can get as creative as you like - you have the full power of HTML at your disposal if you wish.

The styles you create in the Stationery Picker and Signatures sections are saved by default in your [drive]:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Microsoft\Stationery and [drive]:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures folders. Top tip: Remember to backup your works of art so you don't inadvertently lose them!