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Scenario: Windows 7 x64 Enterprise, Outlook 2010 making use of the Favorites section of the navigation pane

Problem: All labels in the Favorites section of the navigation pane, are in a washed out grayish text color that is difficult for our user's to see.

enter image description here

What I would like to see: I would love to know if there are options to change the font, color, size, etc of just the text circled in red. I know there is a way to modify the font and size of the navigation pane as a whole, but this text is still barely readable by my users.

4 Answers 4

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You can create two new Search folders that replicate the functionality of your current folders on the favorite bar. These search folders can be assigned any name you wish, without any grayish stuff added. Then add these folders to the favorites and de-attach the existing Inbox shortcuts from the favorite bar.

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  • While it is more of a work around than an answer, it should work perfectly for my user who is requesting this. Martin, thank you. Bounty awarded, and marked as the answer.
    – user76211
    May 7, 2012 at 18:01
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Outlook 2003/2007 settings are controlled by the Windows 'menu' global settings. There's no reason why this shouldn't work for 2010 too. Right-click anywhere on the desktop, click on 'Personalize' and choose 'Window color'. In the Window color options, choose 'Advanced appearance settings'.

Here, we can change the global 'menu' font size and type, as follows:

enter image description here

Click on 'Apply' and wait for the global settings to update.

You can see the following change in the 'Favorites' section:

enter image description here

By playing around with this, you can improve readability.

Apparently, Outlook 2010 has a facility to change this setting from within Outlook without tampering with global settings. Here is how it would look:

enter image description here

Hope this helps.

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  • Sadly this does not modify the grayed out/washed out portion next to the Inbox. As I highlighted in the original post, that is the text I wish to modify. EDIT: Thank you however, your post was very well thought out, and presented.
    – user76211
    Apr 30, 2012 at 22:26
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Although sub-optimal, you can change the entire color scheme of Outlook 2010 (via File...Options...Color Scheme). I chose Black, and while it increased the contrast slightly, it probably is not enough to help on its own; it may be useful combined with the above solution.

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Yes, you can get rid of the terrible gray navigation pane. In the personalization menu choose the theme "High contrast". It has lots of white in it. The GRAY PANE IS GONE. Use the color menu to change other colors if the whole theme looks to white and your back in business with a clear Navigation pane. Good luck.

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