One thing you will notice when you open up Word 2007 for the first time, (or PowerPoint 2007, Excel 2007, Outlook 2007.. basically any Office 2007 product) is that Times New Roman is NO LONGER the default font! Times New Roman has been replaced by a SAN SERIF!!! (That’s one with no feet for those playing at home) font by the name of Calibri.
I will not pass judgement today on which is the better font… because it depends entirely on what you are doing with your document. Traditionally Serif fonts (the ones with feet) like Times New Roman were better for printed documents, and Sans Serif fonts (no feet) are better for documents to be displayed on screen. Is Microsoft making the assumption that most documents are now viewed on screen and not printed? In a commercial environment I would suggest that is very accurate (do you print all your emails? and all your word documents at work???).
That being said, it looks like Calibri is making its way into more and more places… even before the release of Office 2007. Check out any of the coverage of the Australian Open Tennis Championships taking place at the moment… the “Melbourne” text on the court looks as though it is in Calibri! (or something very very close to it!).
But that begs the next question. What if you don’t like Calibri? How do you change the default font in Word 2007 to something that you like? It is much easier than you think! Here is a quick tutorial to get you started!
- On the “Home” tab of the Word 2007 Ribbon, in the font group, select the “More Options” button. See the image below if you don’t know which button that is.
- On the Font Dialog box that appears, simply select the font, font size, font style, font colour etc that you would like to be the default, and then select the “Default” button in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. It will ask you if you really want to change the default font, and of course you want to click yes. If you have selected your default font as “Comic Sans MS”, I would encourage you to click NO!!!!! at that stage
So there you have it, a quick introduction into Typography, Default Fonts, and what will soon become everyone’s favourite font (by default)… Calibri.
’till next time,
TNP 
[tags]Word 2007, Office 2007, Australian Open, Tutorial, Font[/tags]
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A little more info I’d add to this post – according to the Vista product guide, Calibri is one of six fonts MS developed to take advantage of the way ClearType works (which is on by default in Vista BTW). This would totally support your hypothesis about viewing documents on screen vs printing them out.
Personally, for documents over a couple of pages, I still prefer to print them out. Maybe it has something to do with my tendency to want to put my feet up when I’m reading something.
That’s because your screen has 96 or maybe 120 DPI resolution while print has at least 300 DPI. It’s a huge gap. ClearType (which is on by default in Vista and IE7 for XP) narrows that gap, but it’s still not perfect. Interviews with Bill Hill on Channel9 (http://channel9.msdn.com/Showforum.aspx?forumid=14&tagid=19) provide huge amount of information on that subject.
If someone wants to learn more about typography, fonts and ClearType i recommend watching interviews with Bill Hill on Channel9. They are simply awesome.
[...] It is easy in Word 2007… but in Outlook 2007 it is a little different… but here is how! [...]
YOU’RE MY HERO! I liked the fact that my Publisher and Word in ’07 were more stable, but I couldn’t figure out how to customize them! I love you!
Jane
Thanks for the article. A quick search on google for changing default font yielded your article. I still prefer reading TNR fonts on screen and on paper !!
thanks for the tips on changing the default font (didn’t realize it was that simple), times new roman has grown on me over the years, and i’m not quite ready to change fonts yet
Thanks
Hi,
With my office 2007, this default font technique does not work at all. I must have tried it some hundred times till now. The new documents all open in Clibri size 11. And it is a big nuisance for me, because I have to follow the style sheet prescription of international journals. All the international journals prescribe that the researchers use Times New Roman font 12. It is very frustrating and sad that Microsoft has added non-sense font with non-sense font size as the default. And then they design the office such that you are not able to change the default font.
I just can’t imagine what kind of blokes run that billion dollar company!
Do you know if anyone has been able to use the tip to change the default font? It sure does not work on my computer. I have a vista installed, another crappy system churned out of MS industry. It comes with Windows Media Player 11, which is crappier than 10 and 9. Its user interface has become user-unfriendly. By the way, that’s true for MS Office 2007 also.
The simplest method is to create a style that uses your preferred font. Then you can type out the text using Word’s default font, and then apply the style(s) you need.
The easiest way to change any of the defaults in Word 2007 is to open the Normal template (Normal.dot or Normal.dotm) and make all the changes to that document. Then save. All the other methods just don’t seem to “stick.”
I’ve found that doing this changes the defaults so that when Word starts up, the document sitting there is just how I want it.
I have tried the default button under each heading. I have tried the default on the style. I have even tried changing the default on the word template. I save them all. NOTHING IS DEFAULTING!! The template shows up as the way I would like it to be but yet each new document is still beginning with the calibri 11 pt, with double spacing. WHAT ELSE CAN I DO?? No one seems to have an answer….not even MICROSOFT. And it seems I am not the only one with this problem. My husband’s 2007 is doing the same as well as several people on the internet that I have come across reading.
I love the new font. And the new default title font Cambria which is a serif font and much preferable to Times New Roman (IMHO) if you want serifs.
I am also pleased that the Word 2007 converter, which I installed at work where I have Word 2003, automatically installs Cambria and Calibri for you and now it’s my default font on Word 2003.
Thanks so much, i was searching for how to change default font for ages. So beneficial knowledge, thanks thanks:):)
My Word Default font is Calibri 11, so I don’t agree that this is supposed to be good for online documents.
The reason is that printed documents are held and read at less than an arm’s length away, and so you can be comfortable with a 12 point font.
But online documents are viewed on a screen that is located two or three times farther away than your hand held paper. So this font size should have been increased to adjust for the change in distance.
So the Microsoft Word people need to increase the font-size if this is supposed to work for online documents.
“Traditionally Serif fonts (the ones with feet) like Times New Roman were better for printed documents, and Sans Serif fonts (no feet) are better for documents to be displayed on screen. Is Microsoft making the assumption that most documents are now viewed on screen and not printed? ”
The Times New Roman with a 16 font-size is the default for the Firefox Browser, so this reasoning is not correct.
Times New is an UGLY and MESSY font! I am so glad it is gone!
Surely one could simpy delete the grotesque and hideous Calibri from the list of Windows fonts?
Awful. I don’t write stuff on Word unless I’m going to be printing it. Yet again MS’s ‘innovations’ are worse than worthless to me
Good article thanks!
How do you pronounce Calibri?
1. CA-LEE-BREE
2. CAL-A-BREE
Thanks.
THANK YOU! I’ve been SO ANNOYED at that Calibri font. You have made my day, nay, my week! Possibly month. I shall think of you whenever I write a letter, article or story.
I don’t mind the letters in Calibri, but the inter-word spacing seems too small. I’ve only been using Word 2007 for a couple of weeks now and I keep having to double-check to verify that I put a space between words. I used the instructions here to pick a different default font.
I used Office 2007 for the first time today. I love Calibri! I’ve always hated Times New Roman with a passion.
Thank you so much!
i don’t really care which one i use, but my college teacher wants nothing but Times New Roman.. he says the feet on the bottom help carry the eye while reading, so its easier to follow along. any who thanks i was getting tired of changing it everytime, but now its default.
SO! Calibri is the font that all these websites (eg. Wiki[BlahBlah]) have been looking for. I haven’t got it, so it’s been using a decorative font I do have, and it isn’t compatible point size for point size.
It seems that defaulted fonts, whether they were defaulted in the style section or in the font dialog box, are applied for documents created from the start menu (Start->MS office->word) or documents created in an already opened word program (by pressing Ctrl+N) only (maybe there are other ways of creating a new document, but that does not matter now). However if you create a document by right clicking in windows explorer and choosing “New->Microsoft Office Word document”, the newly created document will still have the Calibri 11 font.
If you know how to solve this issue, please type an email to ghrunt@gmail.com
I’ve got all my default fonts set at Times New Roman but get some emails with “Heavy Heap” font. Nothing seems to correct that. Any advice??
What’s wrong with Comic Sans? That’s my favorite font.
Thanks a million I had tried for days to work out how to change the font to Times New Roman when office 2007 opens and your simple explanation has finally achieved it.Very grateful for your time.
Word 2007 is crap!
What, exactly, is the point of having a “default” button in the font dialog box if clicking it doesn’t make your new choice the default font?
Wordpad is easier to use than this garbage.
Thanx..
this help very much i have set default cambria font
Thanx
_raises_ the question. Not _begs_ the question.
I did that on my computer and when i leave Word it resets to Cambri. Any tips on how to fix that?
Calibri doesn’t display correctly in any number of places; it’s blurred around the edges at best, and it makes me squint and my eyes hurt and it makes me feel like I’m going blind. All in all, I regard it with all the loathing and disgust which I previously reserved for that bloody paperclip. They wanted a sans serif font, fine — what was wrong with Arial, I ask? Instead, I have this f***ing monstrosity which hurts to read.
And no, the “default” button doesn’t make anything stick for me either.
Sod Microsoft. I’m going to use OpenOffice.
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH I HATE CALIBRI!!! I am a writer and standard for submission is Times New Roman. I hate that I have to switch it every time, so thank you for making my life more pleasant!!!!!
I only use Times New Roman. And I hate Word with a passion. I’m one of those people who type everything in Works and convert it/finalize in Word (if and only if I have to).
I have seen a few fossils written in Cambrian.
Of course, Microsoft could just be recognising that on average 89% of people find Serif fonts, such as Times New Roman more difficult to read. It has been shown to be harder for Dyslexics to read Times New Roman and has even been linked to causing migrains in people.
Thanks, that damn Calibri has been driving my crazy forever…I needed Times New Roman for APA school and could not get the Word Help to tell me how to do this!! Thanks again!!
Times New Roman is a hideous mess of a font. Give me something with clean lines like Calibri ANY day.
Astonished at the people who say TNR is the ugly font. I loathe Calibri and like some of the contributors above I find the change default does not work. Great mystery to me why Microsoft changes things which are perfectly good when they could save time and money and be more popular by leaving them as they are. Bit like Google who couldn’t deal with having created the perfect search page so had to damage it by adding an annoying “Best Matches” dialogue box.
I’m so thankful for your advice.
Change of font in this f*** Office version was a pain in the neck. Finally I can work again without worry about the f*** fonts..
i have tried every bleeding method mentioned. the flipping thing never asked me if i want to replace normal .doc. i change it to different format and each time i start word it reverts back to the same bleeding format. i started beating the table as i am soo frustrated. where is the normal.doc fucking template saved is beyond me. why does it have to be so difficult?!!
You’re a lifesaver! well a great life helper at least. This question has been bugging me ever since Word 2007. I’ve just changed my default in Word 2010 – I can breathe easier! Thanks again.
@Gallery You obviously have bad taste.
Microsoft did a huge disservice to anyone in business or academia by making this change. Times New Roman 12 is the standard font required by most professional and academic organizations operating today. It’s not just the font itself; paragraph formatting standards got completely hosed in 2007. There are far too many people who don’t know how to fix these hideous problems and get taken to task by their professors — or simply dismissed as unprofessional by colleagues and potential clients — thanks to Microsoft’s messed-up belief that somehow the Web was all now. And frankly, Calibri still looks wretched on many computer screens, so the logic behind this move was flawed anyway.
Thank You so very much for this informative webpage. I print out a lot of material for gaming and college requires Times New Roman font.
very very very helpful… it also gave me an idea how to change the default settings on other stuff, ex. margins, etc.
i have ms 2007 . in my ms word ,font name it will change to default font,but it will change to another font, when i start to type, please help me