Vista - E-mail Fonts

I know this might sound a stupid question, but when you write a new message in Windows Mail - by default it starts with Arial fonts. Can you change this default to your own particular liking and save it, so when you start a new message,it starts with your choice automatically?
Thanks.

Hi Wiffy, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Not by default, but you can setup a blank email the way you want it and click File and Save to save it in the Drafts folder as a template. When you want to use it to send a email, just open it from within the Drafts folder to fill out and send.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thank you Shawn - good idea - will do

Hi Wiffy,

This IS possible, but it involves editing the registry. To do so, follow these instructions.

1) Close 'Windows Mail'. You can also leave this open, but changes will not take place until you restart this program.
2) Open the 'Registry Editor' by clicking on the start orb and typing 'regedit' into the search box and then pressing enter/return.
3) Browse to the following key: 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Mail'.
4) In the right hand column there are 2 entries, viz 'Font Name' and 'Font Size'. It is these that determine the default settings.
5) For example, to change the default font to 'Batang', right click on 'Font Name' and select 'Modify...'. In the 'Edit String' dialogue, type 'Batang' in the box under 'Value data:' and click 'OK'.
6) Likewise, to change the default font size, right click on 'Font Size' and select 'Modify...'. In the 'Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value' dialogue, click the required option under 'Base' and then enter the required value into the box under 'Value data:'. Click 'OK'.
7) Finally, close the 'Registry Editor'.
8) When you next open 'Windows Mail', the default font settings will be changed to what you have set them to according to the above instructions.

This piece of code sets the default font to 'Batang' with a size of 12. You can change the font name and size to whatever you choose.

This code reverts the font settings back to their defaults.

Copy and paste these bits of code SEPARATELY into 'Notepad' and save them with a '.reg' extension. Give them meaningful names for example, 'Mail Batang 12.reg' and 'Mail Default.reg' respectively. You can then click on these files to merge them into the registry. Note that you will need to repeat the procedure for each user separately.

If you wish to automate the procedure, copy the code above into 'Notepad' and save it with a '.bat' extension. Give it a meaningful name. If you wish, save a number of copies of this so that you can start 'Windows Mail' automatically with the required font settings without having to delve into the registry every time. For example, the code above could be called 'Mail Default.bat'. Note that the details highlighted in RED are the only things that need changing to suit your requirements. If the font name includes a SPACE (e.g. 'Arial Black'), then it will need enclosing in quotation marks ("Arial Black").

This code could be saved as 'Mail Batang 12.bat'.

Hopefully, this should help you.
Dwarf

Your welcome Wiffy. Dwarf's idea is a good one if you wanted it set this way all the time until you change it again.