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Windows Live Mail

Change Default Font When Composing Mail and News

SUMMARY: Use a different default font in Windows Live Mail besides 10 pt. Arial.

Tired of all your messages appearing in 10 pt. Arial in Windows Live Mail? When writing news and mail messages where HTML mail sending is enabled, you can change the default font to Times New Roman, Georgia, Impact, or another of your choosing.

1. Access the Windows Live Mail menu by clicking the menu button (see the screenshot to the right) or press Alt + M.

2. Select "Options".

3. Click the "Compose" tab.

4. Click the "Font Settings" button next to "Mail" or "News" to change the default font when composing e-mail or news messages.

Changing font settings when composing e-mail from Windows Live Mail

5. The "Font" dialog box appears. Select your desired font name, style, size, effects, and color.

Choosing font characteristics in Windows Live Mail

6. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.

Note that if you choose a font that is not found on the receiving user's system, especially when using a symbol font, your e-mail may not appear as intended.

EXPERT USERS: The Registry Entries for this configuration item can be found here:

For the default mail font:

Name of the font:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\mail\Font Name

Font size:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\mail\Font Size

Font bold:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\mail\Font Bold

1 - Bold
0 - Normal

Font italics:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\mail\Font Italics

1 - Italics
0 - Normal

Font underline:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\mail\Font Underline

1 - Underline
0 - Normal

Font color:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\mail\Font Color

000000 - ffffff - 6 digit hex number representing font color

For the default news font, replace "\mail\" with "\news\" for the Registry keys above.

This tip was written for Windows Live Mail Version 2009 running on a netbook running Windows XP Home. Features, instructions, and screenshots for other versions / operating systems may vary.