Yeah, just when Dear Daughter was old enough to stop doing really weird things to our computer monitors, a couple of cats came to live with us. I don't know how they do the things they do, but it's really annoying to get my windows perfectly arranged on the screen to monitor various job streams to have the cat go bug hunting and log me out of my sessions. Figuring out how to change the font is just a matter of wandering the menu bar, and looking for options that look useful.

I believe this is the solution. Got this mssg from my son not long after my OP. I did not know he was looking into it. It is long. >>Looks like you're using Outlook Express 6, which hasn't been updated in years. Cue standard rant about upgrading.... I looked at the "source code" of the mail, which shows what the actual text of the message is, and I can see that it's using a multi-part format. Part 1 is a plain text version of the email, and Part 2 is the HTML version of the email. That version doesn't have any indication of what font to use, so you changing it on your side wouldn't make any difference. Take a look at this: http://ask-leo.com/why_does_my_email_sometimes_show_up_with_funny_characters_like_0d_in_it.html It seems that your client is using "quoted-printable" which might be causing some of the problems for people using newer email clients. Maybe. I don't see the odd "=" signs sprinkled around, but they might be interfering with the HTML rendering on some clients. When I read your email in gmail via its website, your email looks okay. (The blue background and tiny font is stripped away.) But when I use a local email application (Mac's Mail.App), the blue background is still there, and the font is smaller than my selected default, but not TOO small, which means, I think, that the quoted-printable stuff is correctly interpreted. When I use Sparrow Mail (a desktop app that integrates with gmail), it's tiny. Sparrow is a brand new application, so they've probably not yet felt the need to deal with old-school quoted-printable content.OK back to me in OEX 6...........I went to: Tools > Options > Send > Mail Sending Format > Settings (HTML or Plain, whichever) > Encode text using: (None or Quoted Printable or Base 64) choose None. I had been sending email using HTML with the MIME mssg format setting 'Encode text using: Quoted Printable' . I changed that to None. The Plain Text Mime Format was set by default to: 'Encode text using: None'. I then sent emails to my Inbox account both HTML and Plain Text. The Plain Text-None font came out proper size. The HTML - None font was still tiny. Now why was I using HTML all these years? Well the HTML Compose Pane has a format toolbar. The Plain Text pane does not. Evidently with OEX 6 you can have formatting ability or Plain Text - not both. On my Yahoo account the choice is Rich Text with formatting or Plain without. So it would seem I need to use OEX Plain Text or another email program to eliminate recipients getting tiny font mssgs.

it would depend on which email client you are using and you did not mention what email you are using. I would look in settings and preferences if you have those options. In my hotmail I do not think there is a way to change the size of that list of to recipients. However there is a wonderful extension for the firefox browser that will increase the font sizes on the page with just one push of a button. If you use firefox you want to add the extensions called Text Size toolbar. It has been a lifesaver for me and my poor old eyes. I use it almost daily on some of the sites that have such small print. Once you have it you will not be able to live with out it. If you are interested in getting firefox browser if you do not have it and/or adding the text size toolbar I will be happy to help you with instructions just let me know.

Thank you all for your help! I have passed on the info to my Dad, who seems to have blundered his way into some sort of satisfactory resolution. He has a young mate down the road (only 83 y.o.!), who does seem to know his way around a computer. Unfortunately, he hates Firefox (calls it Mozzarella!) and is set in his IE ways, but has cobbled together something for Dad. Next time I visit, I'll double check, and also install 3.5.1! Regards to all, Shax