How to change font of email snippet in Outlook 2013?

I find that the size of the snippet text for an email in Outlook 2013 is extremely small. I would like to change it to something larger, but apparently I can only change the font size of the email details with View->Change View->Manage Views->Current View Settings->Modify->Conditional Formatting.

Is there any way to change the font size for the snippet text? The canned font of 6pt or 8pt is really difficult to read.

UPDATE Today October 15, 2015 the AutoPreview snippet started to appear with the same larger blue font that is used in Office 2003. Not sure if it was a Windows Update, but it is great news. Now the snippet is a lot more readable. Usability has improved a lot and it feels as convenient as in Office 2003.

microsoft-outlook-2013

Pep

Posted 2013-12-02T17:17:28.517

Reputation: 205

I don't come close to having your environment, so here is a generic guess. When you copy formatted text from anywhere, the receiving program usually has a Paste Special or Paste With No Formatting option. If you use that, then your text should come out in the default font and size of the receiving application and you will probably be able to change those. Worst case, paste into a text editor like notepad which will strip all formatting and then past it into your intended destination. If necessary, you can use this approach with just one application by pasting to notepad and then back. – Joe – 2013-12-09T20:33:09.173

I was referring to the couple of lines of the Message Preview text that appears in Outlook 2013. In earlier Outlook versions, the message preview text (AKA "Autopreview") had the same font size as the line with the sender, message subject, etc, but in Outlook 2013, it is set to a minuscule size and there is no apparent way to change it. – Pep – 2013-12-10T05:22:21.147

Wild Guess - can you try ctrl+ scroll up using mouse wheel? – dbza – 2014-01-13T13:01:22.653

I was trying to find the answer myself and saw these posts. Joe's answer is correct, but you must right click the source material and click copy, and then right click and click paste retaining the original formatting. It is no use using Control C and then Control V, because there are no paste options. – None – 2014-01-30T06:23:16.807

Answers

Like much of Outlook, there is no user way to amend that part of the GUI I'm afraid.

@DBZ_A: No, you cannot zoom that part of the interface.

The only thing would be to alter the default Windows font sizes or DPI and that would, of course, affect virtually everything in Windows.

Julian Knight

Posted 2013-12-02T17:17:28.517

Reputation: 13 389

You are right. I even tried to write a VBA macro to no avail. Unlike with Outlook 2010, it ignores the change font command. I'm looking forward to Outlook 2016. In the meantime, with the contrastless design of Outlook 2013, I get the idea on how you see things before cataract surgery, which is also useful for the future. – Pep – 2014-01-14T18:53:12.110

;) I hate it, Outlook doesn't have any of the tools to manage large quantities of email for multiple projects in any meaningful way. But I'm forced to use it. – Julian Knight – 2014-01-17T15:46:25.337

You can control the font color, size, and face in the View Settings. First, select the folder or mailbox that you want to change, then go to View->View Settings on the ribbon. In View Settings dialog, go to "Other Settings". You'll see the Message Preview font, and you can click "Font..." to change the color, size, and face of the Message Preview.

Ironically, I found this because I hated the change to blue that occurred on October 15, haha.

Kobinator

Posted 2013-12-02T17:17:28.517

Reputation: 11

Yeah, right after the change it even seemed strange, I suppose that's how you feel just after cataract surgery. But after one day reacclimating to the old-new blue font, I now really love to see the traditional blue font back there. In contrast, it took me many weeks of immersive exposure to Outlook 2013 (even avoiding exposure to Outlook 2003) to get used to the small gray font Outlook 2013 initially shipped with. – Pep – 2015-10-22T19:25:17.727