Why does Mail automatically "mask" Plain Text emails I'm replying to?

[applefan289]

I have Mail currently set to show Plain Text messages in fixed width font so I know I'm receiving a Plain Text message vs an RTF one. Whenever I reply to a plain text message it always "masks" the sender's email with my own default font. So, if I send my reply in RTF, the message below mine (the sender's) is now in my default font rather than the fixed-width font I set it to.

So, is it possible to respond to a plain text message in fixed width font, and it KEEP that fixed width font while I reply in my default font? I know it will send as plain text unless I format something (like make a word bold), but if I do send it in RTF, I want the recipient to see that his message was in the fixed-width plain text font, rather than my default Helvetica font.

 

[interrobang]

From the computer's point of view, plain text has no font. The monospaced display font is just what the computer uses because it has to use something, and that's the one you told it to use. The text remains, as far as the computer is concerned, unformatted text.

When you quote that unformatted text in a rich text message, the inserted text takes on the default font of the message. The quoted text has no font of its own, and Helvetica is the font that you've told Mail to use by default for all rich text messages, so that's what the computer uses.

You can manually re-fromat the quoted text if you like.

 

[applefan289]

From the computer's point of view, plain text has no font. The monospaced display font is just what the computer uses because it has to use something, and that's the one you told it to use. The text remains, as far as the computer is concerned, unformatted text.

When you quote that unformatted text in a rich text message, the inserted text takes on the default font of the message. The quoted text has no font of its own, and Helvetica is the font that you've told Mail to use by default for all rich text messages, so that's what the computer uses.

You can manually re-fromat the quoted text if you like.

Thanks for the detailed answer. On a related note, should I "use a fixed width font for plain text messages"? (last question, sorry!)