The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on December 7, 2023.
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Today's Highlights »
- Small text in email?
- Taskbar badge in new Outlook
- Opening Recurring Appointments
- Disable Copilot in Windows
Small text in email?
A user complained that he was using a 16 point font and it still looked small and hard to read in Outlook.
The problem wasn’t the font, but the zoom settings in his email. Instead of using a large font for writing emails, change the zoom level in Outlook.
Users can set a preferred zoom level for messages in Outlook 365, 2021, and 2019, but in older versions of Outlook, users need to set the zoom level each time, by holding the Ctrl key and scroll the mouse wheel or using Zoom button on the ribbon to zoom in each message.
When reading mail in the reading pane, change the zoom level using Ctrl + scroll or slide the zoom bar in the lower right corner. Click on the zoom % number to open the options dialog to change the zoom level or enable Remember my preferences.
I have more information on zoom feature in Outlook, along with screenshots and a macro to automate zooming in older versions of Outlook that don't support remembering your preference at Adjusting Outlook's Zoom Setting in Email
What about other fonts in Outlook? To and Subject field fonts can't be changed.
The fonts in the message list can be changed in View Settings. Switch to the View tab, select View Settings, then Other settings button. Change the Row Font. This is a view and can be applied to all folders. After customizing the fonts, select Change View button > Apply Current View to other mail folders.
If you only want to change the font for Unread Messages, change the Conditional formatting rule for Unread messages in view Settings > Conditional Formatting.
The fonts used in the folder list cannot be changed. The only way to make them larger is by changing the display percentage or screen resolution, which affects all Windows applications.
In new Outlook, Ctrl + Scroll will zoom messages in the reading pane. Fonts in the message list cannot be changed.
Taskbar badge in new Outlook
To display the new envelope icon on the Outlook icon, you need to enable notifications for Outlook (new) in Windows Settings. At the very least you need to have notifications enabled. If you don't want banners or sound, those options can be turned off.
Start typing notifications on the Start menu or in the search field and open Notifications and actions when it comes up.
Locate Outlook (new) in the list of Notifications from apps and other senders.
You also need to have badges enabled for the task bar. This option is in Windows Settings, under Personalization > Taskbar. Show badges on taskbar apps is near the bottom of the dialog, under Taskbar behaviors.
Note: the badge for Outlook – either new or classic Outlook – is a small blue envelope. It’s definitely not the easiest thing to see. If you are actively working in new Outlook, the new mail badge will not display. You need to have new Outlook minimalized or out of focus for the badge to display.
Opening Recurring Appointments
From the “I never thought of doing it this way” department.
A user wants to open several occurrences in a series and opens the series to edit them. He wants to open the selected occurrences using “Just this one”. But when he selects more than one occurrence, it opens the series (without asking just this one or the entire series).
The behavior is expected. Because it’s one appointment, it won't open two windows. The user will need to open each occurrence separately.
It’s the same number of clicks to open the series by selecting two occurrences in the series then right-click and Open, so it won't save time or mouse clicking, but it does eliminate a dialog and that counts for something.
Disable Copilot in Windows
Copilot can be annoying, wasting screen space and popping up when I don't want to use it. Fortunately, it can be disabled.
To disable Copilot in Edge, go to edge://settings/sidebar/appSettings?hubApp=cd4688a9-e888-48ea-ad81-76193d56b1be and turn it off.
If you want to remove Copilot button from the taskbar, start typing Taskbar settings on the start menu and open it when it comes up.
Slide the Copilot (preview) toggle switch off.
This removes it from the taskbar but you can still use the Win key + C keyboard shortcut to open it.
To disable it using a policy (which prevents it from being turned on), set this registry key:
Type regedit on the start menu then browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Policies > Microsoft > Windows > WindowsCopilot
Add the DWORD TurnOffWindowsCopilot and set the value to 1.
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