How to Change Global Default Font Setting Across All Notes

[AaronCShumaker530 18]

Hello!  I'm wondering where I can find the setting where I can change the default font setting across *all* notes when I start the note.  I want to change the default font and size so I don't have to do this every time I create a new note.  How and where can I do this? Thanks!

[mavmav 0]

I also have this issue and need immediate help

[Peter_wb 2]

I have the same need. I submitted a ticket but message said it can be 10 to 15 days for a response. 

[gavinhall 0]

I cannot see where to set the default font. There is no Tools, Options, Default Fault type option??

[ggerke2234 2]

Same issue would like to set the font for ALL my notes. 

[Sayre Ambrosio 520]

On 11/2/2020 at 5:53 PM, AaronCShumaker530 said:

Hello!  I'm wondering where I can find the setting where I can change the default font setting across *all* notes when I start the note.  I want to change the default font and size so I don't have to do this every time I create a new note.  How and where can I do this? Thanks!

If you are on Mac and using the new app, you can't yet. The settings menu and options is still being added to. With the new framework I'm not sure what we will have once it is added, but for now, you are stuck with what is stock. You can run the legacy apps and new apps side-by-side if you need to. I'm doing it and this is one of the reasons. 

If you want to download the legacy app you can do so here.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314-Install-an-older-version-of-Evernote

 

[AaronCShumaker530 18]

Awesome, thanks Sayre - really appreciate the post!

[Sayre Ambrosio 520]

Just now, AaronCShumaker530 said:

Awesome, thanks Sayre - really appreciate the post!

You're welcome. I made a note to come back and comment when and if it becomes available.  May see you in a week or a month but I'll update lol.

[AaronCShumaker530 18]

Awesome, thanks so much!  Have a great weekend!

[Sayre Ambrosio 520]

8 hours ago, AaronCShumaker530 said:

Awesome, thanks so much!  Have a great weekend!

You're welcome and have an amazing weekend yourself.  Stay safe out there.

[gazumped 11,666]

Hi.  A lot of features are temporarily stripped out in the new version. If your issue relates to one of these you can get it back by going 'legacy*',  but many are -at least temporarily- unavailable in the new app.  We don't yet know what's coming back,  or in what timescale or order.  Sorry.

*See: https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314-Install-an-older-version-of-Evernote

[pkazmercyk 4]

I'm sorry to hear that I can no longer (at least as of today) change the global font in Evernote Mac (10.2.4). The new default font is terrible and the line spacing is ridiculously large. Even on short notes I need to scroll. Longer notes are ridiculous. I'm wondering why this newest version was even released when none of the app preferences are there any longer.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

It was one of the most supported requests prior of v10 that documents should look alike on all platforms.

Well, here we are:

Fonts are not universal, many are linked to a specific OS. Windows brings along its own set of fonts, MacOS does the same etc. They can only be used together with the OS, or need to be licensed. EN can not ignore the licensing issue, because as a company they would be vulnerable to legal action if they did. A font set on a Mac, from the fonts installed there, will make a note not look the same on Windows, because the font will probably not be there. A note created with Windows fonts will look differently on iOS, because the font was replaced, and so on.

So EN implemented the obvious solution: The client comes ready with its own (small) set of fonts, identical on all platforms. By this the user request to get look alike notes can be fulfilled. For basic note taking this should be sufficient, not for more advanced layout.

If EN will in addition allow the use of user specific fonts in the future is not clear - in the release notes they don’t comment on it. Not positively in the section „future releases“, not negatively in the section „gone for good“. So we can open a new request on this.

As a workaround use a word processor like Pages or MS Word, where you can set the properties to your liking.

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, pkazmercyk said:

I'm sorry to hear that I can no longer (at least as of today) change the global font in Evernote Mac (10.2.4).

fwiw  There has not been a "global font" setting for Evernote/Mac    
           There was only a default font display on Macs; I think Widows also had a default display setting

Do you have a recommendation for a "global font" that displays well on all devices?

[PinkElephant 8,114]

There is a bunch of fonts preinstalled on Windows, and a similar set (but other fonts) are delivered with Macs. One can easily pick any TrueType font from a PC, copy it and Paste it into the Font Library of a Mac, or vice versa. This works - but is illegal, because the fonts are bound to the OS license.

Fonts that can be used without a license exist, maybe the biggest such family of fonts being Google Fonts. Very nice - unless you learn that they are used for tracking devices as well. Other fonts with expired licenses exist, but usually are not good locking and don’t show well on digital devices. Most of them are old, predating the digital age.

With nice looking, perfectly scalable and digital native fonts, there is (legally) nothing as a free lunch.

P.S. And don‘t say, let’s take Arial and Times New Roman ... 😱

[dannytheENuserfromEU 5]

Adding my comment from another topic here as well.

I would like the option to change the default font globally as well. I HATE the limited choice in fonts the new version (10.1.7) offers. They're not even actual font choices! It's only (generic) sans-serif or serif.

I understand the font is dependent on the font you have installed on your machine, and that's perfectly fine. I have the fonts I need already installed on my machine and want those fonts to be selectable in Evernote if I install Evernote as an app on my machine (Mac). It was possible in the previous version of Evernote, so why can't it be included in this new version?  

The look of my notes is a major turn off now, because I mainly use Evernote for taking notes. The way the font looks is therefore very important for. I'm re-installing the old version of Evernote and will NOT get back to the latest version of Evernote for Mac until the font issue has been fixed. 

Same comment for the iOS version. 

[dannytheENuserfromEU 5]

On 11/8/2020 at 12:29 AM, PinkElephant said:

There is a bunch of fonts preinstalled on Windows, and a similar set (but other fonts) are delivered with Macs. One can easily pick any TrueType font from a PC, copy it and Paste it into the Font Library of a Mac, or vice versa. This works - but is illegal, because the fonts are bound to the OS license.

Fonts that can be used without a license exist, maybe the biggest such family of fonts being Google Fonts. Very nice - unless you learn that they are used for tracking devices as well. Other fonts with expired licenses exist, but usually are not good locking and don’t show well on digital devices. Most of them are old, predating the digital age.

With nice looking, perfectly scalable and digital native fonts, there is (legally) nothing as a free lunch.

P.S. And don‘t say, let’s take Arial and Times New Roman ... 😱

Arial would be a better choice than the generic Sans Serif option we now have. There's a reason why Arial is still widely used. It's a readable font for reading on a screen. Times new roman I agree  But TNR work better in print than on screen anyway. 

[dannytheENuserfromEU 5]

On 11/6/2020 at 4:49 PM, Sayre Ambrosio said:

If you are on Mac and using the new app, you can't yet. The settings menu and options is still being added to. With the new framework I'm not sure what we will have once it is added, but for now, you are stuck with what is stock. You can run the legacy apps and new apps side-by-side if you need to. I'm doing it and this is one of the reasons. 

If you want to download the legacy app you can do so here.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314-Install-an-older-version-of-Evernote

 

Thanks for posting the link to the legacy version. I've immediately uninstalled the newest version for Mac and went back to the legacy version. Bring back the option to change the font and I'll give the new version another shot. 

[Halsen 1]

Thank you Sayre! The legacy version is very helpful.

Like many on this thread I'm really surprised they rolled out the new version without the formatting defaults built in. It seems like the new version is not ready for release, or at least should be optional and not rolled out to everyone without first informing them of what is included and what's not in the new version.

[danzip 17]

The issue I'm having with the new Evernote is that the new 16pt default text size is too small for me to read. Only workaround is to magnify the window view which does make the fonts larger on screen, but because its magnified it also makes most of my notes run off the right side of the window and I have to scroll horizontally to see the rest of the note. (I mostly use tables to organize notes)

Please bring back the feature for default text size! I would think text size is fundamental. If the letters are too small and its hard to read the note....what's the point of using the software? Fundamentally I'm using it to read and review... aren't I?

[magog 2]

As a alternative.

Try to start new "New Note", then write some letters, then change font, then save this note as a template (Note ---> Save as template).

Next time, when you start new note, you need to use saved template and font will be as you saved.

[joz1@me.com 2]

So Im stuck with Helvetica? The font that looks like chopped off limbs or trees or humans? Ugh. 

[alkaisco 1]

my issues apply to the newly released android 10.5 version (but it sounds like they apply equally across all platforms)

i) i want to emphatically join the chorus to request the ability to set the default note text size/font in the new version

ii) *please* give me back the old ui !!! the two options now available, namely dark and light mode simply do not cut it. I need to be able to quickly scroll through my notes without eye-strain or migraines

[Paddy Paddy 19]

On 11/7/2020 at 7:56 AM, pkazmercyk said:

the new default font is terrible and the line spacing is ridiculously large. Even on short notes I need to scroll. Longer notes are ridiculous.

I echo many of the comments above. I don't like the font and line spacing of the next version (March 2021 on Windows PC). And the line spacing puts much less text on the page.

Additionally, the font color is too light, it's a medium grey, I would prefer black for readability.

I also vote for an option to change the default font and line spacing, and ideally font color

[cgcg 2]

It is kind of disappointing that we cannot change the default font on Evernote macOS app, as of May 2021. It really kills the productivity as I do not like black headlines, some people are very perceptive and like colors, like myself, and I hope Evernote team adds this support soon to macOS app.

I have just signed up to write this, and this is my first post in Evernote discussions as it really is disappointing. 

 

[hoovdc 0]

Solution:  Apply desired default font to one of the font presets.

Process:

1. Open a note, and change the font to the desired appearance.  Leave your cursor in that position
2. Click the font preset drop-down in the formatting toolbar (contains various header sizes and "normal text"), and select a preset, probably "normal text")
3. Click the right-facing arrow and select "Update [preset, e.g. "normal text"] to march"

[Mike P 2,642]

3 hours ago, hoovdc said:

Solution:  Apply desired default font to one of the font presets.

You do know that it only changes the formatting for that note don't you. If you open a new note the options will have reverted. The only real solution is to make the changes and then save the note as a template. Alternatively you could save the note and then copy it to create each new note.

[amygboudreau 2]

Returning after an Evernote user after 5-6 years and frankly find it shocking that the new version of Evernote doesn't give users the ability to change global default font settings - I see this as a standard, baseline feature. It adds significant frustration and friction to the user experience because I'm finding myself constantly highlighting individual lines to change the format. 

This may seem silly on the surface, but I'd imagine many of your users are people who care about things like form and fit - otherwise they'd use something simple like Google Docs. 

I'm posting this here in hopes that a moderator can surface this back to the product team.

[mattschmid 1]

On 2/21/2021 at 3:40 AM, magog said:

As a alternative.

Try to start new "New Note", then write some letters, then change font, then save this note as a template (Note ---> Save as template).

Next time, when you start new note, you need to use saved template and font will be as you saved.

Best workaround so far! Why won't Evernote fix this? Hey Evernote... Listen to the VoC... "Change default font" feature. At least SIZE. 

[mcdebugger 5]

On 21.02.2021 at 12:40, magog said:

As a alternative.

Try to start new "New Note", then write some letters, then change font, then save this note as a template (Note ---> Save as template).

Next time, when you start new note, you need to use saved template and font will be as you saved.

Thank you very much for this workaround! I'll definitely try it.

Also I'd like vote for this feature too - ability to set default font / font size in Evernote global settings. I have bad eyesight and it's difficult for me to use default font size and the interface scaling is not an option (I'm using 13-inch 2015 MacBook Pro and scaled interface just waste space and looks ugly to me).

[Twiggy 0]

This is a real limitation in Evernote, and is making me consider going to another notetaking app.

Another limitation is when exporting to PDF there are not enough formatting options- even though I pay the highest level of membership.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

It is as it is. With a new release every 2-3 weeks, each one adding features there is at least the possibility that what you are missing might be added any time now.

You can promote your feature wishes by using the feedback function.

And if it does not appear, feel free to put your money elsewhere. Competition is good for all of us users.

[hydawo 1]

+1 for customizable global header styles in new Mac app please; holding on since 2008...

[Gherkin 1]

Thi9s really does seem like a basic feature that should be present. What on Earth is going on? How is this not standard? It's August 2022

[PinkElephant 8,114]

It is as it is. Personally I doubt there are plans to change the standard setting of fonts. But maybe we will be surprised - one day …

The forum is user2user.

To reach EN use the feedback function, or issue a support ticket.

[DonDree 5]

Right now I plan to let my paid subscription lapse when it finishes and will not renew until this fundamental issue is addressed.

This failing makes the app incredibly cumbersome to use. Every time I begin a new note I must 'select all' and change the font size to one that is large enough to be readable on my iPhone. (Even then, when I hit enter to start a new line, the app reverts back to the default tiny font.) That hassle is a game changer for me.

Right now I have switched to using my Word app for notes. It's not optimal but at least I can set a default font, the most basic of features one would think.

Wake up Evernote. You're losing customers.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Whom do you address ?

Just other users here.

To contact EN, use the feedback function or a support ticket.

[DonDree 5]

5 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Whom do you address ?

Just other users here.

To contact EN, use the feedback function or a support ticket.

Yes I am addressing other users.

Sorry but I have tried contacting EN on numerous occasions and find it a black hole.

Does any of the feedback posted here ever come to their attention?

[agsteele 2,950]

3 minutes ago, DonDree said:

Does any of the feedback posted here ever come to their attention?

Occasionally but I don't think you can rely on it.

Meanwhile, what is easily done is to create a blank document. Set the defaults you want in the various text formats. Save the note and then create all new notes from that default by duplicating.

HTH

 

[mode1 7]

With the update to desktop version v166.1.20643, my previously stable sans-serif default has gone back to serif mode, with no discernable option to change it.

Very frustrating, and so dumb that such a basic function is either impossible to find or completely non-existent. 

[PinkElephant 8,114]

You are ahead of time: The current version for the desktop app is 10.54. Check your update status.

[melaniemillar1@gmail.com 0]

here we are 2023 and still can't set default text size/font?

What is particularly maddening is that within a single note, everytime  you tab for a new paragraph  FONT/STYLE REVERTS TO DEFAULT.  As you are writing you have to keep resetting font/style.   

When will this be fixed???

 

 

 

[Mike P 2,642]

5 hours ago, melaniemillar1@gmail.com said:

What is particularly maddening is that within a single note, everytime  you tab for a new paragraph  FONT/STYLE REVERTS TO DEFAULT.  As you are writing you have to keep resetting font/style. 

Evernote really want you to use the 4 defined styles (Large header, Medium header, Small header and Normal text). If you update one or more of those they will be consistent throughout the note - they won't change. If you change the style half way through all the existing text as well as future text will be changed. Although you can't change the name of the style there is no reason why you can't use a "header" style for normal text if you want more than one style of normal text and fewer headings.

Using the #, ## and ### shortcuts also make them super easy to use.

Unfortunately updated styles only work for the current note, but you can change the styles how you want them and than save a blank note as a template or just a "template note" that you duplicate when you start a new note. There is no way of automatically changing an existing note.

 

 

[Chris W 3]

Three years later I still cannot see a way to set the default font & point size globally across all notes. Am I missing it?

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Several workarounds have been described.

You just need to decide which to employ - which as well means that there is still no native solution.

[polymath07 1]

No offense, but I really cannot understand the technical difficulty of doing this. Adding default font option is so simple but for some mysterious reason Evernote does not do it. Moreover, you start a note, press Ctrl-A, change the font to -say- monospace, and then you press some random place in the note and write, but oops, it goes back to sans serif again! why?!?! Is fixing this annoying issue so hard for the oldest big "NOTE TAKING APP" software team??? Is it?

[McVador 2]

On 4/14/2023 at 4:13 PM, Mike P said:

or just a "template note" that you duplicate when you start a new note.

I tried that, using the "Duplicate" command in the note list, and the "duplicate" reset the Large, Medium, and Small header defaults, and the Normal Text default, though it kept the font I explicitly set.  The "MONOSPACED test" lines under the Large and Medium headers only have the correct font because for those sections I copied the text, where in the last section I retyped it so it would use the default "Normal" text.  In the original note, all this works as expected and has the correct font.

Of course, even if this did work, it wouldn't do anything for the 13 YEARS worth of notes my coworkers and I created using our paid Business (or Evernote Teams... whatever) plan. I've been holding on to the Legacy Evernote as long as possible but it seems like that finally got pulled.  We're software developers so we use a lot of "#" and things in our notes too, which Evernote 10 wants to format as headers, and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn off the auto-formatting shortcuts like you could in Legacy (e.g. so it won't create horizontal dividers when typing "---").  

If I totaled up all the time spent formatting 13 years worth of notes, just to have all of it get wiped because it was just the "business decision" Evernote decided to take today... that's messed up.

Here's the original note I duplicated above, for comparison. The other duplicates were just me trying different things to see what is carried over on Duplicate (still not 100%, it seems inconsistent; but I know the Header and Normal text defaults aren't).

 

 

[Mike P 2,642]

On 10/5/2023 at 12:07 AM, McVador said:

I tried that, using the "Duplicate" command in the note list, and the "duplicate" reset the Large, Medium, and Small header defaults, and the Normal Text default, though it kept the font I explicitly set

This has been a bug for a while and has been noted elsewhere. It applies to the duplicate and copy functions as well as making a template. I don't know when the bug started but it was after my original post in April.

[SwissDutch 3]

And now it's November 2023!!! This monumental bug, which is so easy to fix, and that would please so many people, is still part of the world's largest note-taking app. Do they keep this in just to make us mad? For years I have been a member. But now I am seriously looking for alternatives. 

[PinkElephant 8,114]

If this is "monumental", your measure of "bugs" must reach into infinity.

First in itself it is no bug, it is a feature (or a lack of a certain feature, depending how it is viewed). The setting itself is there, and it works. It`s just set to certain values by default. Similar to editors like the one in Apple Notes (which is even more basic still).

Second what @Mike P refers to as a bug is that a different setting of a standard text style in a note (used as a blueprint for duplication) or a template does not carry over any more, as it did in the past. Since here a property gets lost, one can speak of a bug with this in mind.

[dottom 1]

This is such a simple request yet it seems impossible for Evernote to deliver on.

I've tried other workarounds, such as:

• Duplicating a blank note where I've set the custom style attributes, but the customizations do not carry over to the new note.
• Creating a custom template, and loading that template when creating a new note.  Doesn't work either.

Even if the above solutions worked, it would also work for new notes and not past notes.  There should be a feature to import/overwrite style, similar to how any MS Office product uses style sheets.

But I have gotten on solution to work which is completely external from Evernote.  I've created a keyboard and mouse macro to customize the changes I need.  This is a little tricky as you need to first have the macro position the Evernote window so that your mouse movements are accurate on an X/Y screen axis.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Just before other users go nuts over trying them: The mentioned workarounds stopped working appr. half a year ago.

The macro method is ok, for those who want to apply it.

[Mike P 2,642]

3 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Just before other users go nuts over trying them: The mentioned workarounds stopped working appr. half a year ago.

I've have an open support request on this (dated 12 Oct) but so far no meaningful response from EN.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Hope you get an answer about this weird downgrade - and basically I hope they solve it by creating an individual Standard Text Style Setting.

Whatever they send, we can be sure it will be Sans Serif 16pt …

[Whitofok 1]

I want to change my default font to larger on all notes, but can’t find out how to do it and support is just trying to avoid answering I guess.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Read this thread, or several others: It’s not possible to set up a user defined Standard Text Style (which would be the method to apply a different font).

It will always start with „Sans Serif 16pt“.

You can change the font in one paragraph, the select the Standard Text Style, then hit the 3 dots, then change the Standard Text Style based on your selection,

This will change it for the whole note, wherever the Standard Text Style is applied.

But you need to do it again for each note.

Remark: Usually 16pt is pretty large as a font. You can Zoom in on the client - this will enlarge everything. And opposite to a font setting, the last Zoom factor will even be applied again after closing and reopening the app.

[Etaoin Shrdlu 3]

Guess it's because I'm using a Mac that the wording is slightly different to what's in PinkElephant's comment above. Normally I'd select some text, change the font, and hit "Normal Text" > "Update 'Normal text' to match" to change all text in the note using the "Normal Text" style to the new font. But basically it's the same method I think and it worked okay up until the other day.

• I had set a note to monospace 14pt using the above method a few weeks ago.
• After upgrading Evernote to 10.67.4 today, the note now displays in sans serif 16pt.
• The editor however says it's monospace 14pt.
• I tried selecting some text, so that I could use the above method and change everything back to monospace.
• The font select menu says the text is monospace, and clicking on "monospace" does nothing. The text stays as "Sans Serif" and the menu still says it's "monospace".
• Trying clicking on "Sans Serif" does nothing as well. The text stays as it is and the menu still says it's monospace.
• Trying a third font however (e.g. "Slab Serif") does change the font of the selected text.
• Then trying "monospace" does change the text to monospace.
• Keeping that text selected, I hit "Normal Text" > "Update 'Normal text' to match" to change all normal text to monospace
• This just changes the selected text back to Sans Serif 16pt.

The only way I can set all text to monospace is to "Select All", change the font to some intermediate setting ("Slab Serif" or something), and then on to "Monospace". I also have to do the same routine for the font size as well, going from 16 to 14 via some other setting.

Of course this only changes the existing text. Any new text pasted in defaults to Sans Serif 16pt. Any ideas welcome, all of my notes that were in monospace 14pt are now in Sans Serif 16pt and tables etc relying on spacing are not readable until I have to keep changing the font back to how I'd set it.

My Evernote version is
10.67.4-mac-ddl-public (20231204112355)
Editor: v176.32.0
Service: v1.80.3

 

[PinkElephant 8,114]

The only idea is that I don’t see a way to globally change font or text style settings.

[MichaelCusack 0]

I've just started another subscription and after all these years, I'm shocked they still haven't fixed this issue yet. It seems they just don't care, and while there guys like us  paying them for a bad service, they will not change.

[AlbertR 531]

30 minutes ago, MichaelCusack said:

It seems they just don't care, and while there guys like us  paying them for a bad service, they will not change.

They will change UI in one of the next updates. Thereby they'll introduce a new font that should allow to display notes on all different OS environments nearly identical. So: They care - but not as many of us hope 😐.

People (like me) who work 99% of their time in one environment (i.e. on Windows desktops with large screens), would like to choose own fonts and personal sizes. Reading notes on other devices (i.e. Android mobiles) might use EN selected fonts - don't care.

I'm sure they'll offer more settings around this over the time - current and upcoming UI use configuration files. But for the moment they do not offer possibilities to change these files - even "insiders outside EN" did not succeed to locate such files in EN installations 🤔

I hope this will get better before they decide to shut down Legacy versions completely 🙏

[Sheri N. 0]

I'd also like to do this. I see this goes back to 2020, is there a fix yet?

[PinkElephant 8,114]

There is a global font setting since 2020. Unfortunately we can’t change it.

Since EN plans to change the UI, it’s probably a good moment to send your request again using the feedback function.