Setting Default Fonts in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint via Group Policy

In an environment where standardizing things does matter, setting default fonts in Microsoft Office apps via Group Policy is a great way to go.

Word

Normal.dotm is the default template for Word which can be configured to store all the default word styles, including font family and size. The file is saved under the following location:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates

There are no Group Policy objects to set the default font in Word. However, you can deploy the Normal.dotm file via the login script that can be configured via Group Policy.

PowerPoint

Similar to Word, setting the default font in PowerPoint can be done through the default theme.potx file in the following location.

%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates\Document Themes

There are also no Group Policy objects designated to set default fonts for PowerPoint but you can deploy the default theme.potx file via the login script as well.

Excel

Navigate to the following policy path in Group Policy Management and set the Font details like below.

User Configuration >Microsoft Excel 2016 > Excel Options > General

You can also set a cloud policy for the devices that are not connected to a Domain Controller.

Head over to the Policy Management and set up a cloud policy.

Outlook

Setting up the default font in Outlook can only be done in the program or through a registry key at the following location.

HKEY_CURRENT\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\MailSettings

Since the values are in binary format, you will have to use the Export feature to export the key, convert it to an XML format, and then paste it into Group Policy. If you already have registry settings in place, you will need to merge them first and then paste in the whole thing.

I am not going to lie. The setup isn’t straightforward and could potentially mess up other settings you already put in place. I’d suggest using this method as the last resort.