I have OE 6 and just checked it out. I highlight the word, on the tool bar click format, then font, at the bottom on the left choose color you want then ok out. worked for me.

Thanks stargazzer I tried the route you took and it just doesn't change the color in my email, I tried it 3 times! I have no clue as to why it will work on yours and not mine as I never had any problem before.

click on create email, click on format and see if Rich text is checked instead of plain text. I can't change anything in format if it is plain text.

Yes Rich text was already checked.
Strange how things on the Computer seem to have a mind of their own and just quit working for no apparent reason.
I guess it is no big deal.

Thanks for your help.

They seem to want to keep us in a state of confusion. that's the limit on my tech advice. It's a good thing I don't have to make a living doing that. LOL

Is the problem still there after a reboot? I have found that rebooting fixes 90% of the problems.

Open OE, click Tools, click Options, click Send and see if "Mail Sending Format' is set to HTML

The other thing is are you replying to an email and the sender is using Plain text?

Owbist: You beat me to it! I just wrote this all out - too good to delete - so I'll publish it anyway :-)

Try this:

Open Create Mail then click view > Toolbars > Check the Formatting bar. There should then be a formatting bar just at the top of the mssg pane you will be typing in.

Now you should see B I U A for bold, Italic, Underline, Color.
Now when you highlight a word just click on the A in the format bar to pick the color instead of thrashnig all the way thru the format maze.....

If this formatting bar does not appear you are not in Rich Text format.

You don't say if you are having this problem with newly created mail or when replying. If you go to the main window > Tools > Options > Send > then see if there is a check in the "Reply to mssg using same format in which they were sent".

Uncheck that and see if it fixes you up.

In other words if you relpy to a mssg recieved in HTML you have no choice but HTML formatting unless you uncheck as above.

HtML format was correct.

I already knew how to check on the A in the format bar when I wanted to chose a color. The bar is still there.

Tried rebooting, I have had this problem for like two weeks now and yes it is when creating a new email.

I tried Disk Defrag and also the defrag on TuneUp Utilites.
Still no clue.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Here you go: Hope this does it.....

Go to Control Panel > Internet Options > General > Accessibility > Formatting and see if the "Ignore Colors Specified on Web Pages" is checked. [Or open IE > Tools > Options > General > Accessibility]

If it is then uncheck it. > OK > Ok.

I checked it > OK > Ok then in OEX could not change the color of the highlighted text.

Went back in and unchecked it and I could then change text color in OEX.

This might change the color scheme you have in Desktop and various window backgrounds but that's easy to fix up. Isn't it?
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This did not affect the color formatting in Wordpad - just OEX.

Thank you, thank you, thank you mxyplx, yes that fixed it alright. Wonder how it got out of whack? Oh well it doesn't matter, the main thing is that you knew what to do. I will save your instructions just in case a ghost gets in here and changes things around again.

Did I say thank you? God bless you to! lol lol lol