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

Anonymous

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?

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

... 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

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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44 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-04-09T20:39:59+00:00

The issue isn't just being able to change the font settings, it's more to get outlook to understand that the font they chose can be difficult to read. It may depend on what you are using to read it on, as it's worse on my high res computer monitor than on my tablet.

My new question is... is the forum moderator above Alix Xedjhidee a real person or a bot?
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Anonymous

2013-04-05T20:14:51+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.

Oddly, when I use my android tablet, the fonts look much smoother in this new "Outlook". I have a great monitor on my computer but maybe I need to do some setting related to font smoothing? But there was never this problem with hotmail and the fonts they used.
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Anonymous

2013-04-05T14:53:40+00:00

Hi,

I'm 45 years old and I find these colors just horrible and distracting. Do you know why I started using Google way back when? The clean interface.

I'm offended by these responses that do NOT address this issue. Each one of these people represent a million people who haven't written.

I remember when I first saw this "Metro" debacle on Windows phones. I was aghast. I, for one, cannot stand "Bright pink" or anything purple.

To impose the Metro design is one thing, to lock in these attempted youth-catching "hip" colors is a disgrace.

I realize you're trying to compete with Apple (which is quite amusing considering I was there for the "browser wars" and before when Apple was just chugging along in the background with its 4% market share) But guess what Apple does, Microsoft?

Uncluttered, clean, and neutral color design!

These "Metro" colors are ridiculous for many reasons, and locking them into the design, as mentioned above in your last reply, is not smart.

Go back to Tech Microsoft (which I gag on when saying), leave the colors to those who prefer freedom.
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