How do I use a different font as my default Apple Mail font? I've tried changing it in the Mail settings, but it does not stick. This condensed bold font that Mail uses as the default now is too chunky for me and it's hard to read. I can change it on a case-by-case basis, but I want a different default font.
[Edited by Moderator]
Original Title: Apple tahoe mail default font?
iMac 24″, macOS 26.0
Fix for Helvetica Condensed showing up in Apple Mail after upgrading macOS
I ran into an issue where all my incoming emails suddenly displayed in Helvetica Condensed, even after changing Mail’s font settings. The fix turned out to be very simple:
Open Font Book.
Find the Helvetica family.
Right-click and choose Remove “Helvetica” Family (or “Remove Non-System Fonts” if that appears).
Confirm the dialog that says it will remove only non-system fonts.
Restart Mail.
This removed the extra Helvetica fonts I had installed (leaving the protected system versions intact), and Mail immediately went back to displaying text normally.
No need to drag fonts around or mess with Terminal — just right-click, remove, and restart.
I have the same issue ! No changes after restart or changing fonts !
This is how it is set:
This is what it does when I start a new email:
[Edited by Moderator]
Mail correctly uses the font set in Mail prefs on incoming emails, but not on outgoing emails.
I have the same issue. Since upgrading to Tahoe, my preferences default back to Helvetica rounded immediately after I change them.
Mine looks nothing like those options
Unable to change the default font in Mail on macOS Tahoe
