Can't change font in emails

[Mark]

When I compose a new email message, the sections to change style (italic,
bold...) , size and font in general are "blanked out" and cannot be changed.
Any idea what causes this? I am using Outlook 2008.

 

[wkolb]

The e-mail format under the Options menu may be set to "Plain text". If you
want formating capability, go to the options menu, and set the e-mail format
to one of the other format options in the list.