Tired of Plain, Boring Emails? Here’s How to Transform Outlook Messages with Stationery

Is Branding Getting Lost in Emails? How to Master Outlook Stationery for a Flawless Professional Look.

You can make your emails look special. Think of it like choosing your own paper and pen for a letter. In Microsoft Outlook, this is called “stationery.” It lets you add colors, pictures, and unique text styles to your messages. This guide will show you how to use it, change it, and even remove it when you need to.

Sometimes, when you reply to an email, the other person’s design sticks to your message. This can be messy. Knowing how to manage stationery helps you keep your emails looking clean and professional. We will walk through everything you need to know, step by step.

What is Outlook Stationery?

Think of Outlook stationery as a design template for your emails. It is a package of style choices that you can apply to the background and text of your messages. It can include several parts:

Backgrounds

You can set a simple background color or use a picture. Some people use patterns or textures to give their emails a unique feel.

Fonts

You can pick a specific font, size, and color for the text you write. This helps make your messages easier to read or match your company’s branding.

Designs

Stationery can also include other elements like special bullet points, lines to separate sections, or even artistic text made with WordArt.

Outlook comes with many built-in stationery designs you can use right away. You also have the power to create your own. For example, a business might design stationery that includes its logo and uses its official brand colors. This makes every email look consistent and professional.

You could also make special designs for holidays or events. Imagine sending a Christmas greeting with a snowy background picture and festive red and green text. Stationery makes that possible.

Important Things to Know

Before you start, keep a few key points in mind. These will save you from headaches later.

Availability

Stationery works only in the classic desktop versions of Outlook. This includes Microsoft 365, Outlook 2024, and older versions back to 2013. It is not available in the “New Outlook” or the web version of Outlook (Outlook.com).

Message Format

Your email must be in HTML format to use stationery. HTML allows for rich formatting like colors and images. Plain text format does not support these features.

How Others See It

What you see on your screen might not be what the person receiving your email sees. Many email providers, like Gmail, and even the new version of Outlook, do not show background images for security and display reasons. Your beautiful background might just appear as a plain white screen to them. It is best to use stationery for style but not to convey important information in the background image.

How to Add Stationery to a Single Email

If you want to add a special touch to just one email, you can apply stationery without changing your default settings. This is useful for a one-time announcement or a special greeting.

1. In Outlook, go to the Home tab.
2. Look for the New Group and click on New Items.
3. A menu will appear. Hover over E-mail Message Using.
4. You will see a list of recently used stationeries. If you see the one you want, click it.
5. If not, click More Stationery… to see the full list of available options.
6. A new window called Theme or Stationery will open. Here you can browse through all the built-in designs and any custom ones you have made.
7. Select the design you want and click OK.

A new email will open with your chosen stationery already applied. Now you can write your message and send it as you normally would.

How to Create Your Own Custom Stationery

Creating your own stationery lets you perfectly match your emails to your personal or professional brand. The process involves designing an email just the way you like it and then saving it as a template file.

Follow these steps to create your new design:

1. Start with a New, Blank Email

First, open a new email message. You need to make sure it is set to HTML format, as this is the only format that supports stationery.

1. To check, click on the Format Text tab in the new email window.
2. In the Format group, make sure HTML is selected.

2. Design Your Message

This is the creative part. You can change several elements of the email to create your desired look. Think of this email as a canvas for your stationery design.

Set a Background Color:

1. Go to the Options tab.
2. In the Themes group, click Page Color.
3. Choose a color from the palette. For readability, it’s best to stick with light, soft colors so your text is easy to see.

Add a Background Image:

1. On the Options tab, click Page Color and then select Fill Effects.
2. Go to the Picture tab.
3. Click Select Picture… and choose an image from your computer or OneDrive. Be mindful of the image file size. A very large image can make your emails slow to load for the recipient.

Apply a Background Pattern or Texture:

1. If you do not want a specific picture, you can use a repeating pattern or texture.
2. Go to Options > Page Color > Fill Effects.
3. Use the Pattern or Texture tabs to explore different styles. Patterns are simple designs, while textures can look like wood, paper, or stone.

Set Your Fonts:

1. Go back to the Message tab.
2. In the Basic Text group, choose the Font, Font Size, and Font Color you want as your default. It is wise to choose a font that is widely available, like Arial, Times New Roman, or Verdana, to ensure most recipients see it correctly.

Continue adjusting these elements until the email looks exactly how you want your stationery template to appear. You can add a pre-written greeting or a closing if you plan to use this for a specific purpose.

3. Save Your Design as a Stationery File

Once you are happy with how it looks, you need to save it in the correct location and format.

1. Click the File tab in the email window.
2. Choose Save As.
3. In the “Save as type” dropdown menu, select HTML (*.htm; *.html).
4. Now, you must save it in a specific folder that Outlook uses for stationery. Navigate to this location:
   C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Stationery
   (Replace “YourUserName” with your actual user name on your computer.)
5. Give your file a name that you will recognize, like “My Company Brand” or “Holiday Letter,” and click Save.

Your design is now saved as a reusable stationery template. It will appear in the list when you go to choose stationery for a new email.

Expert Tip: For more complex designs, you can use a dedicated HTML editor (like Adobe Dreamweaver or even a free tool like Visual Studio Code). You can create a more sophisticated layout, then save the HTML file directly into the Outlook Stationery folder. Just be sure to test it thoroughly, as Outlook can be particular about how it displays HTML code.

How to Change Your Custom Stationery

You can only edit the custom stationery that you have created. The built-in designs from Microsoft cannot be changed.

If you want to update one of your custom designs, the process is simple:

1. Open Your Stationery: Create a new email and apply the custom stationery you wish to edit.
2. Change the Design: Make any adjustments you need. You might want to change the background color, update a logo in the background image, or choose a new font.
3. Save the Updated Version: Follow the same “Save As” steps from before. Go to File > Save As, choose HTML as the type, and navigate to the Stationery folder.
   • If you save it with the exact same file name, it will replace your old stationery.
   • If you give it a new file name, you will have both the original and the new version available to use.

How to Automatically Use Stationery on All New Emails

If you want every new email you compose to have a consistent look, you can set a default stationery. Outlook will automatically apply it for you.

1. Click the File tab in the main Outlook window, then click Options.
2. In the Outlook Options window, go to the Mail section on the left.
3. Find the button that says Stationery and Fonts… and click it.
4. A new window called Signatures and Stationery will open. Make sure you are on the Personal Stationery tab.
5. Under the “New mail messages” section, click the Theme… button.
6. This will open the Theme or Stationery window. Select the stationery you want to use as your default and click OK.
7. Click OK again to close the Signatures and Stationery window, and one more time to close the Outlook Options.

Now, every time you click “New Email,” your chosen stationery will be there waiting for you.

Note: If you click the Theme… button and see a message that says “Themes are not installed,” it is likely because your default message format is not set to HTML. You can fix this by going to File > Options > Mail and, in the “Compose messages” section, ensuring that “Compose messages in this format” is set to HTML.

Where Does Outlook Store Stationery?

By default, all your custom stationery files are saved in a specific folder on your computer. The location is:

C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Stationery

The AppData folder is usually hidden. If you want to get to it quickly without changing your settings, here is a shortcut:

1. Press the Windows + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:
   %AppData%\Microsoft\Stationery

This will immediately open the folder where all your custom HTML stationery files are stored.

How to Back Up or Move Your Stationery

If you have spent time creating the perfect set of stationery, you will want to keep it safe. You might also want to move it to a new computer. The process is as simple as copying one folder.

1. Navigate to the Stationery folder using the %AppData% shortcut mentioned above.
2. Copy the entire Stationery folder.
3. Paste it in a safe location for backup, like an external hard drive or a cloud storage folder.

To move your stationery to a new computer, simply find the same %AppData%\Microsoft\ location on the new machine and paste your backed-up Stationery folder there.

How to Stop Using a Default Stationery

If you have set a default stationery but decide you want to go back to plain white emails, you can remove it easily.

1. Go to File > Options > Mail > Stationery and Fonts….
2. On the Personal Stationery tab, click the Theme… button.
3. In the list of themes, scroll all the way to the top and select the very first option: (No Theme).
4. Click OK on all the open windows.

Your new emails will now have the standard Outlook background and font styles.

How to Remove Stationery from a Reply or Forward

When someone sends you an email that uses stationery, that design is often carried over when you hit “Reply” or “Forward.” If their background is distracting or makes your text hard to read, you can remove it for your response.

1. Open the email you received and click Reply, Reply All, or Forward.
2. Your reply window will open, likely with the original sender’s background still visible.
3. Click your cursor anywhere inside the message body.
4. Go to the Options tab in the reply window.
5. In the Themes group, click Page Color.
6. Select No Color.

The background will instantly disappear, leaving you with a clean, simple email to compose your reply.

How to Permanently Delete a Custom Stationery

If you have created a custom stationery that you no longer need, you can delete it permanently.

1. Open the Stationery folder where your designs are stored. The quickest way is to use the %AppData%\Microsoft\Stationery shortcut in the Run dialog or File Explorer’s address bar.
2. When you create a stationery, Outlook creates an .html file and often a folder with the same name that holds the images and other assets.
3. Find the .html file that has the same name as the stationery you want to delete.
4. Delete this file. You can either right-click it and choose Delete, or select it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Deleting the .html file will also automatically remove the associated folder. Once the file is gone from the Stationery folder, it will no longer appear as an option in Outlook.