{"id":95539,"date":"2025-09-25T16:36:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/how-to-fix-11-common-rendering-issues\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:38:17","slug":"how-to-fix-11-common-rendering-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/how-to-fix-11-common-rendering-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Fix 11 Common Rendering Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n September 25, 2025<\/p>\n

In the event you\u2019ve spent any time within the e mail world you\u2019re most likely conscious of Outlook\u2019s fame. Also known as the problem child of the email world<\/a>, Outlook has been the reason for many frustrations, missed deadlines, and complications for e mail builders, designers, and entrepreneurs world wide.<\/p>\n

Point out Outlook to an e mail developer and also you\u2019ll be met with rolling eyes and maybe a couple of expletives. Irrespective of what number of Outlook coding guides you learn, there\u2019s all the time one thing<\/em> to throw a wrench within the gears.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it doesn\u2019t all should be destructive! Though Outlook stirs these deep feelings in us, it\u2019s like that one good friend all of us have that you recognize goes to show up 45 minutes later than anticipated, it could be extremely irritating nevertheless it\u2019s additionally reliably irritating<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Coding emails that look nice on Outlook is a ceremony of passage for all e mail builders; Outlook pushes us to suppose exterior the field to create lovely emails that face up to its quirks. It\u2019s a playground the place a wonderfully aligned button turns into a badge of honor, and a desk that refuses to cooperate transforms right into a testomony of our problem-solving abilities. Certain, it could throw us a curveball from time to time, however isn\u2019t that what makes life thrilling?<\/p>\n

Be a part of us as we delve into the intricacies, share insights, and equip ourselves with the instruments vital to overcome the challenges offered by Outlook.<\/p>\n

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Why Outlook emails don\u2019t all the time show as anticipated<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

To undertake the ceremony of passage that’s creating emails that also look nice in Outlook it\u2019s vital for us to know why <\/em>Outlook may be such a thorn in our aspect.<\/p>\n

One of many essential points with Outlook is its inconsistent rendering throughout completely different variations<\/strong>. Outlook CSS assist isn\u2019t nice and right here\u2019s why\u2026<\/p>\n

The desktop variations of Outlook, particularly these predating Outlook 2013, make use of the Phrase rendering engine as an alternative of a devoted HTML rendering engine. This engine, initially designed for phrase processing, has limitations in interpreting modern HTML and CSS techniques<\/a> generally utilized in e mail design.<\/p>\n

Though Outlook is now not the powerhouse it was as soon as by way of e mail shopper market share, usurped in recent times by Apple\/iOS Mail and Gmail, it nonetheless instructions a wholesome common 5%* of the market significantly in company environments. It\u2019s nonetheless crucial to make your emails look nice on Outlook.<\/p>\n

*That is simply a mean. Your e mail lists could differ, we all the time advocate checking <\/em>your own analytics<\/em><\/a> to see who’s opening your emails on which purchasers.<\/em><\/p>\n

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11 methods Outlook can break HTML emails<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

Let\u2019s discover finest practices and techniques for optimizing HTML emails particularly for Outlook, enabling builders to beat the challenges related to it.<\/p>\n

1. Outlook provides random white traces to emails<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

That is by far essentially the most infamous and problematic Outlook concern that exists. Nothing beats ending up your lovely, intricate e mail design, passing it via your email rendering tests<\/a> and seeing a random white line in your Outlook take a look at.<\/p>\n

\"white\"white<\/figure>\n

Whereas it might not be essentially the most egregious design break, the way in which it appears to occur at random, and the fixes we now have to make use of, make it an virtually rage-inducing bug. Regardless of Microsoft being fully aware of the bug<\/a>, we\u2019ve seen no fixes on Outlook\u2019s finish.<\/p>\n

So, why do these white traces seem in your Outlook emails? Though we don\u2019t know the precise purpose for this odd habits, the leading theory<\/a> is that it has to do with heights which might be odd numbers.<\/p>\n

If these white traces are inflicting you a headache there are some potential fast fixes that can assist you eliminate them, at the very least briefly:<\/p>\n

Change up your font sizes and heights.<\/h4>\n

For some of us, the repair is so simple as altering font sizes from odd numbers to even numbers. For instance, you probably have a font measurement of 13px or 15px, strive changing it to 14px.<\/p>\n

You may also strive manually altering heights, font sizes and line-heights to realize the identical consequence.<\/p>\n

Add a ghost break.<\/h4>\n

Usually including a ghost break will briefly repair the rogue white traces in Outlook. Just like ghost columns<\/a>, a ghost break is a line break that we add focused solely in the direction of Outlook.<\/p>\n

Match the background colour.<\/h4>\n

In the event you simply want a really fast repair and your design permits for it, you may match the background colour in your drawback part to the containing part\/desk.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the definition of portray over the cracks, nevertheless it actually works for a fast, no-mess repair.<\/p>\n

Add some Microsoft particular code<\/h4>\n

In the event you\u2019ve exhausted your different choices you may do this code snippet immediately in your code\u2019s head part. Right here we\u2019re concentrating on Outlook and collapsing desk borders.<\/p>\n

This will likely have a extra drastic impact on how your e mail renders, so if you happen to\u2019re going to do this out it\u2019s vital to totally take a look at your e mail on all variations of Outlook.<\/p>\n

Outlook white traces nonetheless bought you down?<\/h4>\n

If not one of the above helped repair your white traces or if you happen to\u2019re to learn extra about how and why these traces happen we wrote an in-depth article<\/a> taking a deeper dive into it. We additionally advocate trying out this brilliant article<\/a> from our mates over at ActionRocket.<\/p>\n

2. Outlook lacks assist for animated GIFs.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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\"animated\"animated<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Does Outlook assist GIFs? That relies on the model during which your animation is opened. Outlook and its lack of assist for animated GIFs has long-been a sore level for a lot of designers.<\/p>\n

Whereas the newer variations of Outlook now have GIF assist<\/strong>, the older Home windows desktop variations (2007-2016) will nonetheless solely render the primary body of an animated GIF.<\/p>\n

In case your GIF features a call-to-action or any info that’s important to the e-mail\u2019s messaging, it’s best to all the time attempt to embody it within the first body. If that isn\u2019t attainable you may all the time employ this technique<\/a> to indicate a GIF in most e mail purchasers, however disguise it and present a static fallback picture in Outlook.<\/p>\n

3. CSS background pictures not supported.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Some time again Microsoft added CSS background image support to Outlook 365 and Outlook.com<\/a>, however we nonetheless lack assist for these in most desktop variations of Outlook, and we don\u2019t anticipate this being modified any time quickly.<\/p>\n

If you need your background pictures to work on Outlook 2016 and different older desktop variations you\u2019ll must dive into the world of Vector Markup Language (VML).<\/a><\/p>\n

VML will let you get these lovely background pictures engaged on Outlook however will add a layer of complexity to your e mail coding course of. Finally, every e mail is completely different and sometimes your e mail designs will nonetheless work <\/em>with out your background pictures loading, it\u2019s all the way down to you to determine if the additional effort of VML is value if to your particular wants.<\/p>\n

4. Outlook ignores margin and padding.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

One of many persistent challenges confronted by e mail builders when coding for Outlook is its tendency to disregard margin and padding properties.<\/p>\n

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\"Snopes\"Snopes<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Sure variations of Outlook will take away padding in a variety of conditions, although you might have extra luck with margins. It\u2019s additionally vital to do not forget that each desktop model of Outlook received\u2019t assist the styling of div> tags, so if you happen to\u2019re utilizing <\/p>\n

s to your format keep in mind to make use of the ghost column technique<\/a>, wrapping the divs in Outlook particular tables to let you model these for Outlook.<\/p>\n

The way you handle your spacing<\/a> in your e mail code is vital and if you happen to\u2019re having hassle getting the spacing you need in Outlook you may take a deeper dive into margins and padding in HTML email<\/a>.<\/p>\n

5. Outlook provides a border to desk cells.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

A bug in Outlook 2016 provides a 1-pixel border round desk cells in emails. This might not be a significant drawback except you want your e mail template to line up completely.<\/p>\n

To eliminate this further border, use \u201cborder-collapse: collapse;\u201d<\/code> embedded or inline. This CSS property signifies whether or not cells have a shared or separate border. Setting the property to the collapse worth means it combines to a single border.<\/p>\n

6. Outlook ignores hyperlink styling.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

In sure instances Outlook won't apply the hyperlink styling you\u2019ve utilized to your hyperlinks.<\/p>\n

Particularly, Outlook will strip the styling from <\/code> tags with out an href worth or hyperlinks that don\u2019t have https:\/\/ or https:\/\/, which may be annoying if you happen to\u2019re utilizing them as anchors to navigate the e-mail, utilizing mailto hyperlinks, or utilizing placeholder hyperlinks for testing functions.<\/p>\n

If it is advisable to take a look at an e mail earlier than you could have stay URLs for that e mail, think about using a placeholder hyperlink that features a https:\/\/ or httsp:\/\/ protocol.<\/p>\n

In the event you discover that Outlook is stripping your types from a mailto or inside anchor hyperlink, merely wrap the <\/code> tag in a <\/code> and apply your styling to the encircling span.<\/p>\n

7. Resizing non-native pictures in Outlook.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Outlook will all the time attempt to render your pictures at their native dimensions which may be annoying once you\u2019re creating bigger pictures and scaling them down, a common technique for high DPI devices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whereas most e mail purchasers will respect your CSS, Outlook won't respect CSS to resize pictures. That\u2019s why it\u2019s vital when resizing pictures to outline the attributes in HTML for Outlook. You\u2019ll solely must outline the width, Outlook will resize the peak accordingly to keep up the right picture proportions.<\/p>\n

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In the event you\u2019re seeing pictures that don\u2019t look nice in Outlook make sure you verify that you simply\u2019ve outlined the proper width within the HTML.<\/strong><\/p>\n
8. Outlook ignores HTML merchandise width and top.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
As we\u2019ve already talked about, Outlook doesn\u2019t assist styling within <\/p>\n
 tags.<\/p>\n
So, when an e mail renders in Outlook, the <\/p>\n
 sections will assume the peak of the textual content within them, and 100% width, even if you happen to specify a top\/width for them in code.<\/p>\n
As soon as once more, the repair for Outlook HTML emails is to make use of tables as an alternative. We've got seen this with a couple of different components, however the <\/p>\n
 scenario is the most typical drawback.<\/p>\n
9. Font stacks and Occasions New Roman.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
In terms of font rendering, Outlook presents a novel problem for e mail builders as a consequence of its restricted assist for internet fonts and reliance on font stacks. In contrast to most e mail purchasers, Outlook doesn't have built-in assist for downloading and displaying customized internet fonts immediately from exterior sources.<\/p>\n
Additional to this, if you happen to embody a customized font on the high of your font stack, Outlook will ignore your entire fallback fonts and as an alternative show Occasions New Roman. (Thanks, Outlook!)<\/p>\n