How can I change my Outlook.com inbox font color into black?

Anonymous
2013-03-19T12:11:59+00:00

Original post: Just had my old Hotmail transformed to the new Outlook. Who are the (removed by Moderator) who decided that light grey type is easier to read than black? Is there any way to change that color on my screen?

These 60-year-old eyes find it hard to read the light grey type that y'all apparently think makes you look cool. Utility is more important to to me  than "cool". Can I change it to black on my screen?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Settings

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2014-09-02T14:01:29+00:00

... who decided that light grey type is easier to read than black? Is there any way to change that color on my screen?

This is an old question which was never satisfactorily answered despite the markings on some of the posts. It still attracts attention, possibly because it's been marked as answered, so here's a different response:

This sort of problem is best tackled by making style adjustments in the browser, to override the styles dictated by the web page's designers. I only ever use Internet Explorer, and this is how I make the text in Outlook.com's message list both bigger and blacker without affecting anything else much.

1.   Copy the text in this box and paste it into a new Notepad document:

.t_lnk a, .t_lnk a:link, .t_elnk, .t_qtc,.t_qtc:hover,.t_qtc:visited,.mlRd .t_estc, .t_qtci, .mlUnsel .t_cag.nc:hover 

{font-size: 14px !important; color:#000 !important;}

.mlUnrd.t_sel div, .mlRd.t_sel div, .mlUnrd.t_sel span, .mlRd.t_sel span, .mlUnrd.t_sel a, .mlUnrd.t_sel .Fm a, .mlRd.t_sel a, .mlUnrd.t_sel .DtB a, .mlRd.t_sel .DtB a

{color: #FFF !important}

2.   Click File > Save As. In the Save as type box, select All files (*.*), then in the File name box type

      ol-black.css

3.   Select a suitable place to save the file, e.g. in your Documents folder.  

4.   Open Internet Explorer and go to your inbox at http://mail.live.com

      The message list will probably look something like this:

5.   Click the Internet Explorer settings cog in the top right-hand corner of the window

      (not the identical outlook.com one below it). Select Internet options.

6.   Click the Accessibility button on the General tab.

7.   Select Format documents using my style sheet and click Browse.

8.   Navigate to the file you saved earlier, select it and click Open.

9.   Click OK twice. With any luck, your message list will now look something like this:

The CSS file can be fine-tuned if necessary. Does this help any of you?

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Anonymous
2013-04-08T05:05:58+00:00

Hi Everyone,

I can see how important it is to all of you to be able to change the font settings in the new interface. Your level of dissatisfaction of not being able to change the font settings of your Outlook.com emails is completely justified. We appreciate your time in sharing your thoughts and opinions while we are working to fine tune your Outlook.com experience.

If you want this feature to be available to the product, please send us a feature request on this link.

If you need additional assistacnce, please let us know.

Thank you,

Alix Xedjhidee

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-05T14:36:22+00:00

    I'm a graphic designer who's work includes executive speech support and creating computer graphics/videos. The first thing I learned was that no matter how "pretty" or artsy your work is, if it's not readible to your audience then it's worthless. Two big "no-nos" were to never use a narrow font and don't use any color but black for the primary text color. Unfortunately, most web design is being done by younger people who don't take into consideration that their work needs to be easily viewed by all ages and who concentrate more on how cool it looks. They have no concept of failing eyesight...yet. Microsoft should make sure that their web screens are beta tested by a wide variety of ages to match their users and their needs before releasing their products.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-05T08:37:40+00:00

    In addition to the color choices which are difficult to read, it's the type of font that is used. No one responded to my message about this so I'll add my comment here. The text isn't flowing, it's difficult to read because it is choppy, blocky, the thin and thick parts of the letters do not create a flow to the eye. When I quickly scan my inbox for messages I want to open, the last thing I want is an unsophisticated font design, created or chosen by people who don't know much about typeface design. It kind of looks like the type of font from computer screens in the early days. Like I wrote before, if you want to experiment with lousy fonts, do it on an unreadable blog, not on a message service that millions of people count on OF ALL AGES.

    I suggest that they quickly add some customization for font type, so that older people who have more trouble reading lousy fonts, can choose a more standard font.

    I hope someone acknowledges this issue.

    Thanks.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-05T03:58:00+00:00

    Hello everyone,

    I understand your sentiments. I know the inconvenience that you are experiencing right now. As a workaround, you can choose the color of the window and set your preferred shades where you can view the font more visibly. Here are the steps:

    1. Sign in to your account.
    2. In the upper-right of the Outlook window, click the Options icon (gear icon).
    3. From the color palette, choose your preferred color.

    You can simply hover your mouse over each color to preview. Once you've decided the color that suits you, click the color.

    You can give us a feedback regarding this concern. Please visit our feedback page here: Talk to us

    Get back to us in case you have more questions.

    Thank you.

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