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I have a nasty feeling I know the answer to this one, however...

We're looking at how to enforce a corporate standard on email, obviously outbound is the priority over internal mail.

Is there any way to set the default font used in Outlook?

I believe it can be done through the registry, but GPO would be ideal.

HopelessN00b
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flooble
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2 Answers2

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It might not be totally what you're after, but have a look at Exclaimer. If you're on Exchange 2003 check out Mail Utilities, Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 check out Mail Disclaimers.

This software can give your emails a very standard look and feel, as well as pull fields from Active Directory into the email which you can use in a signature block. I don't think it can control the font of the email which has been sent - but in my experience, people don't really change the default font in Outlook.

Sorry if that sounded like a sales pitch - I'm nothing to do with Exclaimer, just a very happy customer.

Ben Pilbrow
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  • Thanks Ben, I'm aware of Exclaimer, looks a little pricey especially for ongoing support - currently planning on looking into CodeTwo's product (Exchange Rules) which seems to do what we potentially need just at a bit lower cost (but with equally good feedback so far). – flooble Nov 14 '10 at 12:20
  • Fair call on the price. I have also heard good things about CodeTwo's product, but I haven't personally tried it. – Ben Pilbrow Nov 14 '10 at 12:22
  • I would be interested to know how reliable it is at adding signatures under the senders contribution to the message? I know that might sound an obvious question, but the nice thing about doing signatures in Outlook is that you KNOW it's not going to get confused and put the signature in the wrong place (we already do those "fun" legal disclaimers on a DMZ SMTP gateway so I'm only concerned with the "Joe Bloggs, Engineer, ACME Corp, Tel 555-1234" potion that Outlook would usually handle). Thanks. – flooble Nov 14 '10 at 12:38
  • I can only speak for Exclaimer, but I've been using it for the last 3 years and *very very* rarely does it get confused and put the signature block in the wrong place (I'm saying maybe 3 or 4 times a year). – Ben Pilbrow Nov 14 '10 at 12:55
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A GPO can be used to set values/keys in the registry.

But consider it will be very easy for users to override the default font on each email (it might even be possible to automate this with a macro). So probably more important to educate users about what the standard is and why they should follow it.

Richard
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  • Thanks Richard, that is, I guess, the likely option. I take the point about people overriding fonts, and I don't think that would be the intention, just to set the default font to that which the business wants - there's also signatures and all sorts of stuff to get into. – flooble Nov 14 '10 at 11:16