Formatting Styles when Replying

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Dmitry_N

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Hi,

I am really lost at trying various things to get a problem settled :(

The problem itself is that, when replying to a message, instead of using my Normal.dotm, Outlook picks up formatting styles from this original message, which I am replying to.

Example: my Normal style defines paragraph and line spacing. But this style is correctly embedded only when I create new messages.

However, when I reply to a message, Outlook picks up various ugly Normal styles from the messages, to which I reply, making, e.g., spacing between paragraphs or between lines in a paragraph huge.

Does anyone have an idea how to override this behavior?

Thanks so much in advance!

PS: Luckily, the font, which is used in the reply message, gets picked up from the "Stationary and Fonts" options, and these have nothing to do with formatting and styles, thank God!
 
Your font only gets picked up in replies because the stationery used by the sender doesn't define a specific font or font family.

I've not experienced Outlook using some goofy normal style setting - replies uses my preferred styles - although it might happen if the sender uses stationery.

What setting do you have yours set on / how did you change it? We changed the Normal syle to use 0 points after and use it. You can also change the style (as diane mentioned in a thread yesterday) - Format text tab, Change styles, (click in message body to enabled the options) - select para spacing. Make your changes (no spacing) and choose Set as default.

This page has some information about the problem - http://www.slipstick.com/problems/dblspace_html.htm
 
Hi,

Please take a look at the pictures. Picture file names tell when Outlook behaves as expected and when it doesn't.

My Normal style is Calibri 11 pt, line spacing is "exactly: 12 pt".

New messages: always ok.

Replies: sometimes ok, sometimes not (you can see this on one of the pics).

You can see that the normal style gets picked up from the message, which I am replying to.

You can also see that the list of styles in each of the replies is different, so, I take it all styles that can be seen in replies are also picked up from these incoming messages.

Any solution to this ugly behavior?

PS: Sorry, it seems it's impossible here on this forum to post full-size images. Please take a look here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Bccz-JlMYOiaKVZgb_fCTQ?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Bh3fXAriyAeiClrLy1BI3A?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4a9z32D7z2ystI-i6CP41w?feat=directlink
 

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Correct, replies pick up the style of the original - the email includes its own style sheet. There are exceptions - most common if the sender doesn't use Outlook but it depends on what they do use. The only solution is to select all and change the line spacing (and anything else). Or use plain text.




linespace401.png





Didn't mean to hit post so quickly... use the line spacing command to change the spacing of selected lines, the Change styles command to change the entire email. It's my (limited) experience that change styles will work on the entire document in most situtations, without selecting the text. This includes the header and signature blocks.




File, Options, Mail - near the bottom is an option for using CSS. You can try changing that setting.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I've found one useful button under "Change Styles" in the "Format Text Tab". It's called "Reset to Quick Styles From Template". Unfortunately, this button stops working if I add it either to Quick Access Toolbar or the Ribbon. Weird... Now I have to go a long way to reach this button.
 
Some commands are only usable under certain cirmumstances - if button is active in the Change styles menu, it should also be active when added to the QAT or ribbbon. (In my limited testing, its active when i hit reply to HTML messages.)
 
It's actually active, but hitting this button does nothing, unlike hitting the same button in its default location.
 
It worked for me, but i have only a few messages that either command made a difference.
 
I realize this is an old thread... So there's absolutely no way that when you reply to a message such that your own styles are used instead of the senders for what you type in your reply?

Using stationaries and configuring them to always use your fonts works most but not all the time.

Is there no way to configure Outlook to use a style that exists only on your computer when replying (instead of the Normal style) so that there's no way it's influenced by the sender?
 
No, there is no way to use your styles in replies - they should be available so you can select the test and apply your style, but they won't be used automatically. Outlook will use the same style as the sender used, if a style is specified. Sorry.
 
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