Gmail’s New Rich Text Formatting
Last week Gmail announced the ability to customize messages with rich formatting (RTF). This includes things like adding color, underlining, bolding, justifying text, and more. However, it is not yet available to everyone. As is the Google way it seems, they are rolling out this new feature over the next several weeks in phases. You’ll just have to check your Gmail account to see if you are one of the lucky ones. You’ll know by checking the Compose Message page to see if there is an option link that says “Rich formatting >>”.
If you do have it, click it on to get all the new rich formatting buttons.
If you need to get back to plain text, click the “<< Plain text" link.
The following new formatting abilities are available:
| Gmail’s Formatting Options | |
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Bold - bold all or some of your message |
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Italics - italicize all or some of your message |
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Underline - underline all or some of your message |
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Font - select a special font |
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Font Size - change the font size of all or some text |
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Font Color - change the color of all or some text |
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Background Color - change the background color of a message |
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Remove Formatting - remove formatting from selected text |
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Hyperlink Text - hyperlink the selected text |
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Numbered List - create a numbered list in your message |
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Bulleted List - create a bulleted list in your message |
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Indent Less - move text closer to the left of the page |
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Indent More - indent text further to the right of the page |
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Quote Text - format a block of text as a quote |
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Left Align - align text along the left side of the page |
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Center Align - align text in the center of the page |
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Right Align - align text along the right side of the page |
Remember, rich text formatting does not mean it will recognize HTML code.
While I didn’t notice any problems, there are some reports of problems here and there with the new formatting. But, it is still technically in beta. Here is Google’s response to one user’s description of the problem:
- “You might occasionally notice that rich formatting doesn’t work exactly as you’d expect. Unfortunately, the limitations of most web browsers prevent rich formatting from working perfectly. We’re looking for ways to work around these limitations, and in the meantime, we hope you’ll find rich formatting fun and useful, even with the occasional quirks. ”
That’s okay. We’re happy to have it!
Hi My wife and I would like to thank you all for this web site. Hours of pleasure and all
I’ve always had gmail’s rich formatting on all my PCs. However, I just got a mac and there is no “rich formatting”, and I miss it terribly. It’s like I don’t feel I can express myself without it. Please tell me how I can add this feature on my mac laptop.
Thanks so much!
Lori
Lori Alien-I also have a Mac. They rich formatting i have because I have a firefox Mozilla as the internet page and it connects with internet explorer so it can have the contact list…and others
internet explorer
msn
mozilla firefox
can use gooogle rich formatting
a macs normal internet sevice is safari but it doesnt relae to internet explorer since its specialy desgined for windows
any thing designed for windows is usable for the google gmail preferences
The following is an email I sent to Gmail support, with no useful response as yet. I’d appreciate it if someone could help me, as I’m not likely to get any help, or anything other than an automatic standard reply, from Gmail:
I am using Gmail with IE7 (or trying to). When I compose an email using, or trying to use, Rich Formatting a row of small empty boxes–like the small boxes on the bottom of bank deposit slips for filling in the bank account number–appear above the “Compose Mail” area, each box representing one of the Rich Formatting options, e.g “bold,”italics,” etc. There are no icons in any of the boxes to indicate what the options are. Rather, where there should just be a row of icons representing Rich Formatting functions there is a row of small empty boxes representing icons: when I move the cursor over any empty box in the row of boxes one of the Rich Formatting options ( e.g., “bold,” “italics”) apparently associated with that box is indicated by text, as “bold,” “italics” and the like. It is only in this manner that I can identify which option is associated with which empty box. By selecting text in the email message I am composing and then bringing the cursor to the empty box in the row associated with the “bold” option, for instance, and by then clicking on the box associated with the “bold” option, I can manage to bold the selected text. Both cumbersome and slow (and hardly worth switching to Gmail for).
Please instruct me as to how I can have the Rich Formatting icons dutifully appear above the Compose Mail window rather than a row of empty little boxes representing the Rich Mail options. The Gmail Help Center reference to the use of Rich Formatting options in composing messages refers to clicking “the icon for the formatting feature you’d like to use”; but no icons are shown! As far as I can tell, I am using a full-featured browser, IE7; I access my Gmail in IE7 by clicking the Gmail icon in the Google tool bar which I installed in IE7. I should be able to use the Rich Formatting options when I compose email messages; I switched to Gmail from AOL recently with the understanding that I could do so. Surely, I can’t be the only one having this problem. When I tried using Firefox on my laptop to access Gmail and compose a message, I had the same problem: the same row of little boxes appeared above the “Compose Mail” window, each of which represented a Rich Formatting function; but no icons showed.
I’m not especially tech savvy; but the icons should appear above the “compose Mail” window, not empty little boxes! If anyone who has had (and, hopefully, solved) this problem, or who has a solution to it, can give me some help here on how to make the Rich Formatting icons appear,I would greatly appreciate it! I can be reached (at least until I give up on Gmail entirely, as I’m now inclined to do) at sosslaw@gmail.com. Thanks for any help you can give.
Harvey Soss
Hi
I wonder if you can help.
Everytime I start a new email the text is formatted to double stike through. When I take the format of send email, when i view sent email the text is still double striked through. Please help.
Hi!
I need help with rich formatting buttons. I don’t know if I messed up by deleting all files in ‘My Stationery’ or not. I’ve just noticed later, after deleting, that the buttons has a letter B on them…all of them.
How can I restore them?
Thank you.
If you see “empty boxes” in gmail and if you also notice that some websites do not completely look like they are supposed to just go into control panel and accessibility options then the display tab and turn off high contrast. This should help most of your display problems for web browsing.
Can find no button or way to activate g mail rich formatting using Safari/Mac. Can you help or direct me? Thank you..
The following instructions:
“Click the icon for the formatting feature you’d like to use in the formatting toolbar above the compose window. If you don’t see any icons, click Rich formatting >> to display all formatting options”
displays all the icon boxes but no icons. When I place the curser on the box it defines the icon and I can use it but there is no actual icon. This problem occured when I switched to new PC with latest version of XP and Microsoft office.
How do I get my icons back.
Same problem with stared messages. I can designate star but it doesn’t show on the page.
Sandy