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Tech Tip

Go Bold (or Italics) With Gmail Formatting Options

Q. In my web browser, icons (for changing the text size and adding bold type to new messages I’m writing) at the bottom of my Gmail window have disappeared. How do I get them back?

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If the Formatting Options toolbar disappears in Gmail’s New Message window, click the underlined “A” icon next to the Send button, circled here, to restore it.Credit...The New York Times

A. When you have a New Message window open in your browser, click the button with an underlined “A” next to the Send button to restore the Gmail formatting bar. As with many web and mobile interfaces, Gmail can collapse tool bars and menus that you do not always need to free up limited screen space — but accidental clicking can lead to the sudden disappearance of familiar elements.

If you find yourself doing a lot of formatting on new messages to make them look the way you want, you can change your default text style. To do that in Gmail, click the gear-shaped Settings icon in the top-right corner of the browser window and choose Settings from the menu.

In the “Default text style” area of the Settings screen, add the formatting you always want to use for new messages — you can choose a font style, text size and color. Click the “Tx” button at the end to remove all formatting. Click the Save Changes button when you are finished.

Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology to techtip@nytimes.com. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Retrieving Lost Icons. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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