Maginification in Apple Mail

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The 12 size font is to small to be read comfortably on my MBP. Is there a way I can magnify the font so that it is bigger. I know I can change the font and font size, however, does that mean that those who receive my mails will do so with the larger font size. I do not want to send emails that are written in say size 14 or 16. Just want to magnify it for me to read and compose emails.

Thanks for your help.
 
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you can write your mails at 14 or 16 point and then change them back to 12 if its an issue, Mail will tend to sent rich text mails so a 14 point mail will show up on the recipient's computer as 14pt
 
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Hold down ctrl and either scroll with your mouse wheel or scroll with your two fingers to enlarge the screen, scroll back whilst holding ctrl to go back.

I use this all the time as some emails which people send to me come up as like 6 point and this is a quick way to read the email without changing the viewing options.

Hope this helps

Mel
 

dtravis7


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You can also add the Smaller Bigger buttons to the toolbar. In Mail click on View then Customize Toolbar. Drag the Smaller Bigger buttons up to the toolbar. Those work great for making the text of a message larger when it's really small.

Picture 2.jpg
 
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Thanks very much for all your replies.

dtravis7, your suggestion works great for reading incoming messages. However, for composing messages it does not help, the "bigger-smaller" cannot be used when composing messages. Am I doing something wrong?

The CTRL + mouse solution increases the size of the whole application rather than just the message window resulting in the menu items going off the screen. Also, it makes the stuff hazy.

I think apple mail should have allowed some way of magnifying the size of the font for reading purposes. If dtravis7's suggestion works when composing messages that would be great. But seems like it does not.

Thanks though. If you have any other ideas please let me know.
 

dtravis7


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I just tried it in the compose window and you are correct, it does not work there! Usually in compose I just turn up the font a bit so never tried it. Interesting. Will get back to you if I can find a way around that.
 
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MBP right?

Well why don't you just use the two finger pinch to zoom; assuming you have a current MBP that has the multi-touch trackpad. All you have to do is have your mouse over the message and then tap with both fingers (thumb and index) and expand them outward.
 
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Or you could use my favorite. It is also, in my opinion, the easiest. Yiu can also use this in other applications like Safari, as well. Press command + to make text bigger and command - to make it smaller. (You don't need to press shift to make the + work, so I guess it's more like command = ). You can also go to System Prefs and make it so you can press either command, control, or option while moving the trackpad/ trackball up or down to zoom in or out. It sounds confusing, but it's super easy. Hope that helps!
 
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Thanks for all your replies. dtravis7, please do let me know if you figure out anything.

Forum shark, Pressing command + is the first thing I tried as I use it a lot in many other applications. It, however, does not work when composing mail.

Similarly, Macman, the pinch zoom does not work when composing mail, at least, for me.

It is weird why the standard zooming techniques which work in every other application do not work in Apple mail.
 
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If you compose in Plain Text format, the text size that you use when composing is not transmitted to the recipient. You can compose plain text mail in 72-point if you like, and they'll see it in whatever the default is on their computer.

It's only in Rich Text format that the font style and size (and color, etc.) you use while composing is included with the message.

So unless you're wedded to the idea of sending bright-pink Comic Sans emails, you could set the default message format to Plain Text, and the plain text size to whatever you find most readable.
 

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Very good info Tech as always. That is pretty much what I do when I am tired and have issues reading a small font.
 

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