Outlook 2016 Mac fonts keep changing size randomly when sending email?!

Hi Simon,

Based on your description, the issue could be a bit weird. Therefore, could you help confirm the following information so that we can check if the issue can be reproduced from our side?
1. The detailed version of your Outlook 2016 for Mac client. (Navigate to Outlook> About outlook.)
2. How does the recipient view the email? Also in Outlook for Mac or in Outlook for Windows client (Navigate to FILE> Office Account> Office Updates to retrieve the detailed client version.) instead? And please let us know the detailed client version as well.
3. What’s the font size of your signature? Is it also 12?
Meanwhile, I’d like to confirm the following information to better understand the current situation:
a) When did you notice this issue? Was everything working fine before?
b) Can we reproduce the issue on every email sent to any user?
c) Does the issue persist when the recipient change to another computer or Mac to see the ‘problematic’ email?
d) I’d like to collect a screenshot of the sent email from your side and the corresponding received one from the recipient side for comparison’s purposes. To protect your privacy, I have created a workspace to collect the pictures. The way to access the workspace is in the private message link below:

https://community.office365.com/user/conversations

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,
Sam

Hi Sam

I've uploaded a bunch of screenshots to the workspace for you to review.

My version of Outlook on my Mac is 15.19.1 (160212). The reciepent in the example I sent over is running Office 2013 on Windows 7 and they use Outlook to view and reply to my email.

As you can see from the examples it's not just the signature that changes size, it can be bits or the whole email that jumps in size. I use the font Avenir and size 12 for composition, but I tried changing back to arial and it does the same. It's been happening randomly on and off since Dec 2015 when there was a big update to Mac office. I did some googling of this and can see other users with the same issue but none seem to have a fix.

It happens on most email I send unless the recipient is using plain text (obviously).

Best Regards

Simon

Looking at the HTML code in another message which I have uploaded files called 'Example 2' show where the font has changed size. I've noticed 3 issues a possible hint as to what is going wrong.

In these emails the recipient has responded to my originally correctly displayed email, the body of my text has changed from Avenir to Arial (but stayed the same size of 12) and the signature has changed font face too to Avenir-book and size to pt 15.

This breaks down to 4 issues which are;

1 - HTML encoding once sent from the composer is being incorrectly encoded, and Avenir font is being substituted for Arial in the message body.

2 - HTML code seems inconsistently displayed by Outlook, code says font size 9 but displayed as 12 (for body) or larger in the signature.

3 - HTML encoding once sent from the composer is being incorrectly encoded, with attribute font size missing or stripped (for Avenir this is clear).

4 - When replying to the original receiver by clicking reply the signature jumps to font size 15 but the text body is correctly sized as 12.

For the first 3 issues it appears that Outlook or Office365 is somehow screwing up the HTML code when an email is sent. Issue 4 is something to do with how Outlook interprets the received email's HTML format and applies it to the signature formatting, overriding the correct font size of 12 and replacing it with 15.

Issue 1 - I can't see why Outlook or Office365 is substituting fonts, but when it leaves the sent items this is when it happens as the font and sizes are correctly displayed in the sent items folder view.

Issue 2 - Is strange so Outlook displays the Arial font in the body of the email as font size 12 but in the HTML this is tagged in the <span> html as font size 9 in the receivers email.

Issue 3 - For issue 3 a clear example of whats causing the receiver size problem is in the signature.

The Outlook client sends the HTML code from the composed message, taken from HTML in sent items folder as:

<p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><font face=3D"Avenir-B=

ook" size=3D"3">Best regards</font></p>

But the receiver of the email sees no size information set in the style element of the span tag (font-size:12.0pt; is missing) :

<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><span style=3D"font-family:"Avenir-Book",&quot=

;serif";color:black">Best regards</span>

For other fonts in the same email this font-size:12.0pt; tag is included.

<span style=3D"font-size:12.0pt;f=

ont-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black">

&

<span style=3D"font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial&q=uot;,"sans-serif";color:black">

Issue 4 - I'm not sure but as above I suspect that Outlook when you click reply tries to use the recieved emails formatting and screws up the signature.

Hope this helps you investigate the issues.

Best Regards

Simon

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your detailed information.
I would first suggest you check on the recipient side to see if there are some settings to change the font view or the signature view. Then I will also consult relevant team for more information. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Regards,
Yang

Hi Sam

What settings are you expecting me to look for on the recipient side to changed fonts? They are set to use html and auto encoding just as I am.

Best regards

Simon

Sorry Yang (not Sam) I don't follow what settings you need me to look for as above.

Sorry Yang (not Sam) as above I'm not sure what settings you want me to check on the recipient side?

Hi Simon,

It's not the settings on your side. We would like you to confirm with the recipient whether he has any settings in his email program to change the font of incoming emails. It can help us identify whether this issue is caused by Office 365 so that we can focus on the further troubleshooting.

Your time and efforts are highly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Henry

Hi Simon,

As Henry said above, I would suggest you check if the recipient side has also install the font Avenir and size to 12 in the mail body and signature. If not, please let the recipient to change to the same settings as yours and test again if the issue persists.
 
Besides, I would also suggest you send another new test email to the same recipient and check if the email keeps the same font and size when he receives the email in his Inbox folder.

Regards,
Yang 

Hi Henry and Yang

I have uploaded files to the shared space, files called example 3. In this example you have the original sent email .eml file, html/txt file and screenshot, and the recipient email .eml file, html/txt file and screenshot.

You can see that the recipient confirms that the body of the text has changed to Arial size 12 and the signature has jumped to size 16, but remained Avenir-Book.

When replying to the email the signature on the sender machine which was automatically generated by Outlook jumped to size 16 during composition of the reply on the Senders machine.

Just so you are aware this is not an isolated incident it has happened when sending emails to other users that use Windows based versions of Outlook (2010 & 2013). One user who received and viewed the email correctly at it was composed was using a Chromebook.

Best regards

Simon