Member Avatar for tramahound

hey, first time post, hopefully somebody knows the answer to this;
A user running XP Pro and Office 2k3 recently had her reply emails' font change to a larger bold font that is driving her nuts. I tried checking the font settings under Tools>options>Mail Format>fonts, but they were ok and changing them did nothing. I can change the mail format to plain text but that's not really a solution just a work around. They want to use rich text at least. I imagine it has something to do with using word as the editor which she wants to do also so that it can auto spell complete while she writes too.
Any ideas? I spent 40 minutes trying to find it but no luck.
Thanks

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by roderick123

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Brief summary and context from the thread: reported Outlook 2003 replies suddenly coming out in a large, bold font while using Word as the message editor; later asked if the problem persisted. That symptom in the 2003/XP era usually comes from one of a few specific causes (Word’s email template or styles, stationery/signature HTML, or an add‑in) rather than the simple font picker. Below are focused diagnostics and safe fixes to try in the order listed.

  • Check whether the problem is message‑specific: reply to a plain‑text message, reply to a different sender, and compose a brand‑new message (with signatures/stationery temporarily disabled).
  • Test Outlook with add‑ins disabled by starting it in safe mode (run Outlook with the /safe switch). If formatting disappears in safe mode, an add‑in is suspect.
  • Isolate the user profile by testing from a different Windows user account or a clean Outlook profile to see if the behavior follows the profile.

Likely causes and targeted remedies (non‑destructive first): Word stores email styles in the email template (NormalEmail.dot). Renaming the NormalEmail.dot in the user Templates folder forces Word/Outlook to recreate a clean template (example XP path: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates). Back up the file first. While composing a message with Word as editor, open Format → Styles and Formatting and verify the Normal/default paragraph and character styles aren’t set to bold or an oversized size; use Ctrl+Space to clear character formatting and Ctrl+Q to reset paragraph formatting on affected text. Also check the signatures/stationery HTML (signatures live in the user Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures folder) — an HTML signature can carry unwanted CSS that affects replies.

Final notes: keep backups of templates and signatures before changing or deleting them. If the issue is profile‑bound, creating a fresh Outlook profile or recreating the Windows user profile will isolate or resolve it; reinstall/repair Office is a last resort after those checks.

Member Avatar for tramahound

I was wondering, is there a way to reset all settings in Outlook 2k3 to their defaults? If you do a detect/repair will that reset everything? Or by recreating the profile maybe?

Member Avatar for tramahound

I ended up doing a detect/repair in outlook and selecting the box for removing custom settings. This seemed to fix it. Not the easiest fix, but a fix none-the-less.

Member Avatar for roderick123

hey, first time post, hopefully somebody knows the answer to this;
A user running XP Pro and Office 2k3 recently had her reply emails' font change to a larger bold font that is driving her nuts. I tried checking the font settings under Tools>options>Mail Format>fonts, but they were ok and changing them did nothing. I can change the mail format to plain text but that's not really a solution just a work around. They want to use rich text at least. I imagine it has something to do with using word as the editor which she wants to do also so that it can auto spell complete while she writes too.
Any ideas? I spent 40 minutes trying to find it but no luck.
Thanks

Hi Tramahound,

Are you still having this issue?

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