Outlook Fonts not Sticking

[pagema]

We have been working with MS for the past 7 months regarding Outlook Fonts changing back to Calibri 11.




Users are changing their default fonts through File, Options and somehow after a fews days, they are reverting back to Calibri 11 (microsoft's default)




We have changed the new message and reply font for Outlook 2010 (file, options, mail.....) to Arial 10 BLUE. After a few days, it will revert back to +Body. I then read the article about also changing the +Body font in Outlook (new message, format text, change styles) which I did, leaving the New Message and Reply font at +Body. This seems to keep the font the way I want it, however, the color keeps changing. Some of the attys here want to have both the New Message and reply set to BLUE.




Microsoft thought that it could be an add-in - but we removed all of them and it was still happening. They then came back and said that we needed to change something in the registry stating "The Key added to the policies hive always takes precedence to the keys under the normal hive. By adding the same key under the policies hive, it will ensure that even though the original hive is getting deleted, the original settings stays the same as we have it under policies. This is just a temporary workaround as our goal is to get to the bottom of this and see what is causing the registry entry to get deleted."




We just want a fix. We want to be able to change our Font, Siz and Color and have it stick. Can anyone help us accomplish this?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

What type of email account do you have? Do you have the office suite installed or just outlook?

 

[pagema]

We have the entire Office suite using Outlook 2010 on an Exchange Server 2010 SP3R2. We also have a disclaimer that is automatically added to each email that is sent outside of the firm, which is added from the Exchange Server. We are running a 32bit Office Suite on a 64bit Windows 7 SP1. We are have both office 2010 SP1 and Office 2010 SP2. Both are SP's are having the issue.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I wonder if its related to this - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2896304

But that would not change setting in outlook or delete registry keys. It could affect the look of the messages after they are sent.

Do you use any type of registry cleaner? That can remove keys.

Do you shut the computer down every day? I've discovered that if Windows closes Outlook to reboot, settings may not be saved - its like Windows loads a last loaded registry. I started closing Outlook myself and rebooting after making major changes rather than waiting for Windows to need to reboot to install updates.

 

[pagema]

KB doesn't apply to the situation. It isn't every user that this is happening to, just some. We were trying to see if there was any common factor, but really can't find any. We do not use a registry cleaner. Some of the people shut down their computers every day and some leave them on. So work from home via Citrix or VPN. The font settings might stick for days, and then BAM! they revert back again.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

It's definitely a strange case. do you use logon scripts? That setting is in the registry - you can log it at log on.

 

[evasive]

If you use registry settings to load the proper font, it will not stick until you have opened/closed outlook, before it will go back to the default font. It's remarkable that Microsoft does not provide us with a reliable means to set this option consistently, be it GPO, settings from within the application or otherwise.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

If the registry is changed before outlook is opened, won't it stick? I know many settings are read when outlook loads, so you will need to restart outlook if it's running.

 

[david samuel]

I experienced the same problem. There is a permanent solution suggested to me some time ago (I think by someone at Microsoft) which I suggest you try. It involves using a stationery theme rather than choosing the font directly and then editing the theme's htm file to suit your choice of font.

I use Office 365 and edited the Tech Tools theme's htm file (techtool.htm) which in my case is found at C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office 15/root/Stationery/1033/. Make sure "all files" is active. Open the file with Notepad and edit by firstly removing the lines creating the background and then change the font name, size and colour. In my case the file looks like this:

<html>
<head>
<style>
<!P.msoNormal, LI.msoNormal {
font-family: "Verdana", "sans serif";
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 9.5pt;
color: black;
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
}

body
{
0font-family: "Verdana", "sans serif";
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 9.5pt;
color: black;
margin-left: 68px;
}
HR
{
color: black;
width: 100%;
height: 1px;
}
-->
</style>
</head>
</body>
</html>

Then in Outlook you go to Options/Mail/Stationery & Fonts/Personal Stationery/Theme and choose the Tech Tools (Stationery) theme. Your font choice for new messages and replies will be permanently changed to your choice, but you will still have to change the font for plain text messages manually.

The only instance I still found that Outlook changed the font is when I forward a message that is included as part of the body of my e-mail. I solved this problem by opting for a forwarded (and replied) message to be an attachment to my mail. My font choice is now permanent.

I hope it works for you.

David Samuel

 

[CalmIT]

We have been working with MS for the past 7 months regarding Outlook Fonts changing back to Calibri 11.

This is solved using hidden setting Always use my fonts. This was more accessible in Outlook 2003, but in later versions of Outlook it is hidden. Follow the steps in this article to reveal Always use my fonts and your font settings will stick again!

 

[Diane Poremsky]

That setting only applies to replies. New messages are not affected by it (because they always use your fonts).