Yes, you can format an email in Outlook—just like Word. But Outlook doesn’t save your font choices between messages unless you change the default composition settings first.
What It Does
Formatting in Outlook controls how your message looks when sent—not just for you, but for everyone who opens it. It determines whether your bullet points render as squares or circles, whether your
emphasis survives a forward, and whether your client sees Calibri 11 or Times New Roman 12 because Outlook substituted fonts silently.
This isn’t about styling drafts. It’s about consistency, accessibility, and avoiding embarrassing layout collapses in Gmail or Apple Mail. A well-formatted email in Outlook means: no stray extra line breaks after pasting from Excel, no invisible hyperlinks that look like plain text, and no surprise font swaps when replying to someone using Outlook Web.
One real example: You paste a table from Excel into Outlook 365. It looks fine on your screen. But the recipient on Outlook 2016 sees misaligned columns and missing borders—because Outlook 365 uses modern HTML5 table rendering, while 2016 falls back to legacy rendering. Formatting controls fix that gap.
How to Set It Up
Formatting starts long before you hit
New Email. The key is setting defaults—not tweaking each message.
Go to
File > Options > Mail > Compose messages. Under "Message format", pick HTML (never Plain Text or Rich Text unless required by compliance). Then click
Stationery and Fonts.
In that dialog:
- Click Font... next to "Composing and reading plain text messages" — ignore this unless you use plain text mode (rare).
- Click Font... next to "New mail messages" — this sets the default font for every new message you start.
- Click Font... next to "Replying or forwarding messages" — this is where most people slip up. If you don’t set this, replies inherit the original sender’s font—and Outlook won’t tell you.
That last one matters more than you think. Try it: send yourself a test email in Arial 9. Reply without changing anything. Your reply will be Arial 9—even if your default is Calibri 12. That’s not formatting *you* chose. That’s Outlook’s inheritance rule.
Now close all dialogs. Restart Outlook. Open a new message (
Ctrl+N). Type one word. Check the Home tab. The font, size, and color should now match what you selected—not what Outlook guessed.
How to Format an Email in Outlook (During Composition)
Once you’re writing, formatting happens in two layers: quick toolbar actions and deeper HTML control.
The ribbon gives you immediate tools:
Ctrl+B for bold,
Ctrl+I for italic,
Ctrl+U for underline. Use
Alt+H, then arrow keys to navigate the Home tab without touching the mouse.
But here’s what most miss: the
Format Text tab only appears when you select text—or when you’ve pasted content that triggers rich-text mode. If you type first, then paste formatted content, Outlook may auto-switch to HTML mode. If you paste first? It often stays in plain-text mode until you manually switch.
To force rich text: click anywhere in the body, then go to
Format Text > HTML (in the top-right corner of the message window). Or press
Alt+H, then
F, then
H.
Need numbered lists that restart correctly? Don’t rely on the Numbering button alone. Right-click the list >
Set Numbering Value. Otherwise, Outlook resets numbering across replies—so your "Step 3" becomes "Step 1" again.
How to Format Emails in Outlook (Across Multiple Messages)
You don’t format each email individually. You format templates.
Save a properly styled message as a template: Write it, format it (font, spacing, signature placement), then go to
File > Save As. Choose "Outlook Template (*.oft)". Name it "Client Follow-Up.oft".
Next time you need that format:
New Items > More Items > Choose Form… > User Templates in File System. Select your .oft file. Every font, margin, and bullet style carries over—no copy-paste needed.
Templates also solve the signature problem. If your company forces a legal disclaimer at the bottom, embed it in the template—not in your default signature. Why? Because Outlook inserts signatures *after* you finish typing. If you forget to add yours, or Outlook fails to load it (common with cached Exchange profiles), the template ensures it’s baked in.
How to Format Outlook (The Bigger Picture)
"How to format Outlook" isn’t just about emails. It’s about how Outlook itself renders formatting—globally.
Go to
File > Options > Advanced. Scroll down to "Display". Uncheck "Use hardware graphics acceleration" if you see fuzzy fonts or broken borders in tables. This fixes rendering glitches in Outlook 365 on older GPUs.
Under "Compose messages", check "Automatically convert addresses I type into hyperlinks". Yes, it’s helpful—but it also converts phone numbers like "(555) 123-4567" into clickable links that break in some mail clients. Turn it off if your team reports malformed numbers.
Also critical:
File > Options > Mail > Message format > Internet format. Set it to "HTML"—not "Plain Text"—even for internal messages. Plain text strips all formatting, disables embedded images, and prevents inline replies from preserving structure.
Configuration Options
Here’s what each formatting-related option actually does—and which versions support it:
| Feature |
Outlook 365 |
Outlook 2019 |
Outlook 2016 |
Outlook Web |
| Default font for new messages |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✗ (uses browser default) |
| Font for replies/forwards |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✗ |
| Custom stationery (backgrounds, borders) |
✗ (removed) |
✓ |
✓ |
✗ |
| Paste as plain text shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+V) |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ (but limited to basic text) |
| Inline code blocks (monospace) |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✓ (via Markdown-like syntax) |
| Dark mode font contrast override |
✓ (auto-adjusts) |
✗ |
✗ |
✓ |
| Custom CSS in HTML emails |
✗ (stripped) |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
Real-World Examples
Scenario 1: The Client Pitch Deck Summary
You’re sending a 12-point summary of a proposal to Acme Corp. You want consistent indentation, bold section headers, and monospace for technical terms like
API_KEY. Do this:
- Create a template with Calibri 11, 1.15 line spacing, and Home > Change Styles > Style Set > Professional.
- Define a custom style called "Code Term": Font = Consolas, Size = 10, Color = #2E5984. Save it.
- Insert your summary. Apply "Code Term" to all technical terms. Save as "Pitch-Summary.oft".
Next time, open the template. No reformatting. No font hunting.
Scenario 2: Internal Team Update with Tables
You paste a status table from Excel into a message to Projects/2024/Q3. Columns collapse in Outlook Web. Fix it:
- Select the table > Table Design > Borders > Border Styles > All Borders.
- Right-click table > Table Properties > Column > Preferred Width > 1.2" (set for each column).
- Uncheck "Automatically resize to fit contents".
Now it holds up in Outlook 2016 and Web.
Scenario 3: Legal Signature Enforcement
Your company requires disclaimers on all external emails. But Outlook signatures sometimes fail to attach. So:
- Create a footer block in your template: 8-pt Arial, gray, with disclaimer text and
[CONFIDENTIAL] tag.
- Lock it: Select the block > Format Text > Protect > Restrict Editing. Set password (store it offline).
- Train your team to use the template—not the signature manager.
Limitations and Gotchas
Outlook doesn’t support true CSS classes. Inline styles are stripped or rewritten on send. If you paste HTML with
<span style="color:red">, Outlook may convert it to
<font color="#FF0000">—or drop it entirely.
Bullet symbols behave differently across versions. Outlook 365 renders
• as a filled circle. Outlook 2016 renders it as a square unless you explicitly choose "Bullets > Define New Bullet > Symbol > Wingdings > •".
Outlook Web has no font menu. It inherits system font stack. If your team uses Macs, they’ll see Helvetica instead of Calibri—even if you set Calibri as default in desktop Outlook.
Pasting from Word is risky. Word adds hidden tags. Paste first into Notepad to strip formatting, then into Outlook. Or use
Ctrl+Shift+V—but only in Outlook 365/2019/2016. Web doesn’t honor it reliably.
Here’s the counterintuitive tip: To make bold text *actually* survive forwards and replies, apply bold *after* typing—not before. If you bold first, then type, Outlook wraps each character in its own
<b> tag. If you type, then select and bold, it wraps the whole phrase. One is fragile. The other is stable.
Actionable Next Steps
Do these three things within the next 10 minutes:
| Task |
Where to Go |
Time Estimate |
| Set default font for new messages |
File > Options > Mail > Stationery and Fonts > New mail messages > Font |
2 min |
| Create one reusable template |
New Email > Format Text > Save As > Outlook Template (*.oft) |
5 min |
| Disable automatic hyperlinking for phone numbers |
File > Options > Mail > Compose messages > AutoFormat As You Type > Uncheck "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks" |
1 min |
