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To change the look of Microsoft Outlook replies
All versions of Outlook allow you to change the font used for the text you insert when you reply to a message. (You can't change the font in a plain text message, of course.) In Outlook 97 and Outlook 98, it is also relatively easy to change the way information from incoming messages is laid out in your replies. 

Reply Font (no WordMail) | Reply Font (Word 97) | Reply Font (Word 2000) | Outlook 97/98 Reply Headers | More Information

Reply Font (no WordMail)

 Outlook 2000 and Outlook 98:
  • To set the font used in replies, choose Tools | Options | Mail Format, then click Fonts. This works only for the HTML and Rich-Text formats, not Plain Text. 
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    Outlook 97:

  • To set the font used in replies, choose Tools | Options | Reading, then click Fonts. 
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    Reply Font (Word 97)

    		 If you are using Outlook with Word 97, with Word set as your e-mail editor, change the way replies look by editing the Email.dot (or other template that you're using) directly in Word 97. Choose Format | Styles and change the styles to suit you. Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to get an AutoNew macro to run to turn off revision marking or perform any other preprocessing you want. 

    If you want WordMail replies to use Internet-style quoting, use the E-mail Quoted WordMail Template.
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    Reply Font (Word 2000)

    		 If you are using Outlook 2000 with Word 2000, with Word set as your e-mail editor, change the way replies look by following these steps:
    1. Start Word.
    2. Choose Tools | Options | General. 
    3. Click E-mail Options.
    4. On the Personal Stationery tab, click the second Font button.

    Outlook 2000 always uses Email.dot as the WordMail template. You cannot set a different template as your default. 
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    Outlook 97/98 Reply Headers

    		 If you are not using WordMail and want to change the way that information from the incoming message is arranged in the reply, we have a wonderful solution provided by widget wizard Ben Goetter. This method does not work in Outlook 2000, because Microsoft removed this feature. 

    The key to Ben's procedure is a group of files in the \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Headers folder (or its equivalent on your system). The Reply.usa file contains the template for replies, while Reply.rtf is a copy of that template. Here's what to do:

    1. Make a backup copy of Reply.usa and Reply.rtf.
    2. Open Reply.rtf in WordPad (or Word).


    3. To change the font for the IMEP reply header and quote mark, change the font for the "-----Original Message-----" line.
    4. To change the font and layout of the regular Outlook reply, change the fonts and move around or remove fields as you see fit. I think they're pretty self-explanatory. The fields in [] brackets use information from the incoming message. Be careful; it's likely that changing them could affect the Outlook IMEP reply header as well.
    5. Use File | Save to save Reply.rtf.
    6. Use File | Save As to save it also as Reply.usa, making sure to keep it in RTF format.
    7. Close Word or WordPad.

    These changes take effect the next time you reply to a message.

    You might notice that the Headers folder also contains similar templates for forwarded messages, appointments, folder posts and tasks.
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    More Information
  • To use Internet-style quoting in Microsoft Outlook, Exchange or Windows Messaging
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    Updated Apr 09 2008
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