How to get MS Outlook to honor normalemail.dotm

Please don't say this has been answered, because I've read till my eyes bleed, and it hasn't.

I'm setting up a brand new Dell with a brand new Office 2016 Pro.

Outlook initially opened a new email with its Normal Style properties set to its own defaults that included: Calibri(body), 11 point; automatic color, double spaced paragraphs. (I'll call them the Calibri Properties).

I wanted Normal Style to be: Times New Roman, 11 point, black, single spaced paragraphs. (I'll call them the Times Properties.)

Modifying normalemail.dotm template is easy. Just DO NOT open it from Windows. Instead, use File Explorer to navigate to C:/Users/Me/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Templates. Then right click, and select Windows as the app with which to open it.

If you open it from windows what you get is a new Document.docx that is based on it. And since the Word docx is using normalEmail.dotm, you can't save it as that name.

Then I set the Normal Style to use my Times Properties. And SAVED it. NOT SAVED AS.

To verify normalEmail.dotm was saved correctly, I used it to open Word Document. Everything was correct. A new paragraph in a new document was automatically assigned the Normal Style. Its Normal Style used my Times Properties, not Office's Calibri Properties.

Then I opened a new email message in Outlook, and nothing made sense.

First I checked Normal Style in style drop down under the Format Text tab. It looked good. The Normal Sytle properties were those of my Times Properties.

But when I typed, two bad things happened.

The paragraph said it was in the Normal Style … but it was rendered using Offices original Calibri Properties.

Worse still … if I highlighted the paragraph that said it was in Normal Style, and then selected Normal Style from the style drop down under the Format Text tab … ta dum … it corrected itslef … i.e. it still said it was Normal Style, but it was rendered using my Times Properties.

Honest … even though the style drop down said it started out typing in the Normal Style set to my Times Properties … the $%^#&*@! thing insisted on using old Outlook Calibri Properties.

BUT … when I highlighted the supposedly already Normal Style paragraph and assigned it the Normal Style from Format Text's style dropdown box … Outlook's Normal was replaced by the normalEmail.dotm's Normal!

Can anyone offer any new advice on how to get a new outlook email to honor the Normal Style of normalEmail.dotm? And stop insisting on using its old default Calibir Properties.

Note: I did change Words normal.dotm template first. It works perfectly.

If I open a new Word Document the Normal Style's properties are set to my Times Style settings. When I start typing it defaults to Normal Style. And its Normal Style looks the way I want it too.

This is nutz. I've read till my eyes bled the myriad postings by people who have been defeated by Outlook's insistence on using its old original style. And never a good answer.

Most have trouble modifying normalEmail.dotm. But that's not my problem. As evidenced by Outlook's Format Text style drop down, Normal Style's properties open set to mine, i.e. Times properties.

I just can't get Outlook to start typing in what its style list says is the Normal Style.

Can anyone anywhere suggest an answer?

It's hard to believe any reputable software company would permit this problem to persist going back to 2009!

Then again … it is MS, so arrogance is not in short supply. If Linux can ever run Word, Excel and Outlook, I'm done with windows forever.

geo