Which tab do you select if you want to change the appearance of your email?

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To make sure emails from important contacts stand out and do not go unnoticed, you can set up a rule that makes the email appear in a specific color or a specific size and type of font. For example, you can make emails from your boss appear in a larger font or have emails from family members all appear in red. To set up the way emails are displayed for Outlook for Microsoft 365 (downloaded app only, not web-based outlook.live.com), Outlook 2021, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, and Outlook 2010:

For Outlook 365 (downloaded application) and Outlook 2021:

1. Go to the View tab
2. Select Current View
3. Select View Settings
   
   
4. Choose Conditional Formatting
   
   
5. Click Add
6. Name your rule
7. Click on Font
   
   
8. Pick a color, style and size and click OK
   
   
9. Click on Condition
   
   
10. Type in the email address of the sender or senders you want to highlight. For multiple people, separate the email addresses with a semicolon. And, if you all emails from a particular company with a unique domain name, you can use the "@" domainname.com. For example, Techlicious would be: @techlicious.com. Then select OK.
    
    

Here's how email will appear if you assign red to a contact.

If you want to apply this color coding to all of your email folders, go to:

1. View
2. Change Views
3. Apply Current View to Other Mail Folders.
4. Select the folders where you want the conditional formatting. There's a box at the bottom that lets you choose to "Apply view to subfolders" so you'll be covered if you create new subfolders.

For Outlook 2019 and Outlook 2016:

1. Go to the View tab
2. Select View Settings
   
   
3. Choose Conditional Formatting
   
   
4. Click Add
5. Name your rule
6. Click on Font
   
   
7. Pick a color, style and size and click OK
   
   
8. Click on Condition
   
   
9. Type in the email address of the sender or senders you want to highlight. For multiple people, separate the email addresses with a semicolon. And, if you all emails from a particular company with a unique domain name, you can use the "@" domainname.com. For example, Techlicious would be: @techlicious.com. Then select OK.
   
   

Here's how email will appear if you assign red to a contact.

If you want to apply this color coding to all of your email folders, go to:

1. View
2. Change Views
3. Apply Current View to Other Mail Folders.
4. Select the folders where you want the conditional formatting. There's a box at the bottom that lets you choose to "Apply view to subfolders" so you'll be covered if you create new subfolders.

For Outlook 2010:

1. Go to the View tab
   
   
2. Select View Settings
   
   
3. Choose Conditional Formatting
   
   
4. Click Add
5. Name your rule
6. Click on Font and pick a color, style and size and click OK
   
   
7. Click on Condition
   
   
8. Type in the email address of the sender or senders you want to highlight. For multiple people, separate the email addresses with a semicolon.

Updated on 1/17/2022 with steps for Outlook 2021 

[Image credit: important email concept via BigStockPhoto]

For the past 20+ years, Techlicious founder Suzanne Kantra has been exploring and writing about the world’s most exciting and important science and technology issues. Prior to Techlicious, Suzanne was the Technology Editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the Senior Technology Editor for Popular Science. Suzanne has been featured on CNN, CBS, and NBC.