Why Your Email template Looks Broken in Outlook and How to Fix Them Like a Pro!
No More Broken Emails: 10 Rendering Fixes Every Marketer Should Know
Are you frustrated with Outlook's inconsistent rendering of your beautifully crafted email templates? You're not alone.
Outlook's use of the Word rendering engine for desktop versions, particularly older ones, introduces unique challenges for email designers. Since the Word rendering engine was primarily built for processing documents rather than rendering HTML emails, it has limitations in interpreting modern HTML and CSS techniques commonly used in email design.
In this blog, we'll explore some common rendering issues in Outlook email templates and provide practical solutions to help you overcome them.
A. Outlook Adds Random White Lines to Emails
Random white lines in Outlook emails are a common rendering issue and can be frustrating for email designers. These lines often appear between table cells, particularly when using nested tables for layout.
1. Use VML to Set Border Colors
Try using Vector Markup Language (VML) to explicitly set the border color:
<!--[if mso]>
<v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:100%;height:100%;">
<v:fill type="tile" color="#FFFFFF" />
<v:textbox style="mso-fit-shape-to-text:true" inset="0,0,0,0">
<![endif]-->
<table role="presentation" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%">
<!-- Your email content here -->
</table>
<!--[if mso]>
</v:textbox>
</v:rect>
<![endif]-->
This VML code creates a rectangle with a background color matching the background of your email, effectively covering up any unwanted white lines.
2. Add a Ghost Break
Insert an empty <tr> to mask white lines:
<!--[if mso]>
<tr style="line-height: 0;">
<td style="font-size: 0; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; padding: 0;">
</td>
</tr>
<![endif]-->
3. Match the Background Color
One of the simplest and most effective solutions for eliminating white lines in Outlook emails is to match the background color of the table cell to the surrounding area. By setting the background color of the table cell to match the background color of the email container, you can seamlessly blend the table cell with the rest of the email content, effectively hiding any white lines that may appear.
B. Microsoft-Specific Code for Outlook
1. Conditional Coding
Target specific versions of Outlook with conditional code:
Show content only in Outlook:
<!--[if mso]> <p>This content is only visible on Outlook desktop clients</p> <![endif]-->
Apply Outlook-only styles:
<!--[if (gte mso 9)|(IE)]>
<style type="text/css">
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
border-spacing: 0;
mso-table-lspace: 0pt !important;
mso-table-rspace: 0pt !important;
}
</style>
<![endif]-->
Exclude content from Outlook:
Outlook Version Reference
- Outlook 2000 = mso 9
- Outlook 2002 = mso 10
- Outlook 2003 = mso 11
- Outlook 2007 = mso 12
- Outlook 2010 = mso 14
- Outlook 2013 = mso 15
- Outlook 2016/2019/Office 365 desktop = mso 16
2. MSO Properties
Outlook supports a proprietary set of CSS properties:
p {
mso-line-height-rule: exactly;
line-height: 20px;
mso-margin-top-alt: 1em;
mso-margin-bottom-alt: 1em;
mso-padding-alt: 0px 10px;
mso-font-width: narrow;
mso-ansi-font-size: 12pt;
}
table {
mso-table-lspace: 0pt;
mso-table-rspace: 0pt;
mso-border-alt: solid black .5pt;
}
img {
mso-element: frame;
}
body {
mso-header-margin: 0cm;
}
3. VML Usage
VML is helpful for shapes, backgrounds, and gradients in Outlook:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml">
<head>
<title>VML Example</title>
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<xml>
<v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:500px;height:300px;">
<v:fill type="gradient" color="red" color2="blue"/>
</v:rect>
</xml>
<![endif]-->
</head>
<body>
<!--[if !mso]><!-->
<div style="background: linear-gradient(to right, red, blue); width: 500px; height: 300px;">
<!-- Fallback content for non-Outlook clients -->
</div>
<!--<![endif]-->
</body>
</html>
This example uses VML inside a conditional comment <!--[if gte mso 9]>to render a rectangle with a gradient fill specifically for Outlook (2000 and later). For other email clients, a CSS linear gradient is used as a fallback. Note: VML is outdated and supported mainly by older versions of Outlook. Always include modern CSS fallbacks to ensure consistent rendering across clients.
C. Outlook Lacks Support for Animated GIFs
While Microsoft 365 Outlook supports animated GIFs, older desktop versions (Outlook 2007â2016) only display the first frame as a static image.
- Use the first frame wisely â include key info or CTAs.
- Add fallbacks â provide a static image or alt text for users on older Outlook versions.
D. CSS Background Images Not Supported
Outlook 2007-2013 doesn't support CSS background images. Try these instead:
1. Use Inline Images
Avoid CSS background images. Instead, use inline <img> tags for better compatibilityâespecially with Outlook and other email clients.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td>
<img src="image.jpg" alt="Image Description" width="600" height="300" style="display: block;">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
2. Use VML for Backgrounds
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:600px;height:300px;">
<v:fill type="frame" src="https://example.com/bg.jpg" color="#cccccc" />
<v:textbox inset="0,0,0,0">
<div>
<![endif]-->
<!-- Content goes here -->
<table width="600" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
<td style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; color: #000000; padding: 20px;">
This is the content inside a VML background in Outlook.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
</div>
</v:textbox>
</v:rect>
<![endif]-->
To include a background pattern in an email, you can upload the pattern onto âwww.backgrounds.comâ and get the readymade VML code.
3. Use Background Color as Fallback
Use Background Color Fallback: Instead of relying solely on background images, use a background color as a fallback. This ensures visual consistency in Outlook if the image doesn't display. For Outlook.com, avoid background="" and use style="background-image: url()" for better rendering.
E. Border-radius property Not Supported
The border-radius property isn't supported in Outlook or Windows 10 Mail. For rounded corners in Outlook-compatible emails:
- Images: Use rounded corner images as background for table cells or containers.
- VML: Use VML within conditional comments for Outlook to create rounded corners. VML is a legacy solution supported by Outlook for vector graphics.
F. Links changing into to purple or blue
Outlook often overrides custom link styles with its default settings. To ensure your link styles are applied, use the following CSS:
<style type="text/css">
/* Override Outlook's default link styles */
a { color: #000000 !important; text-decoration: none !important; }
</style>The !important declaration ensures your styles take precedence over Outlook's default styles.
G. Margin and Padding doesnât apply
In Outlook, margin and padding CSS properties can behave inconsistently due to the way Outlook's rendering engine interprets CSS. To ensure your email layouts are consistent across Outlook and other email clients, here are some practical solutions and best practices for handling margin and padding issues in Outlook:
1. Use Inline Styles for Better Support
Outlook tends to better support inline styles than external or embedded stylesheets. Apply margin and padding directly to HTML elements using inline styles to avoid issues with rendering.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td style="padding: 20px;">
Your content here
</td>
</tr>
</table>2. Padding on <td> Elements
If you're applying padding to <td> elements, ensure that the border-collapse property is set to collapse for the parent table. This helps maintain consistent padding and spacing across different email clients, including Outlook.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse: collapse;">
<tr>
<td style="padding: 20px;">
Your content here
</td>
</tr>
</table>3. Use Conditional Comments for Margin in Outlook
In some cases, margin styles may not be fully supported in Outlook. You can use conditional comments to apply margin styles specifically for Outlook. The outlook-margin class can be applied to HTML elements where you want to apply margin.
<!--[if mso]>
<style type="text/css">
.outlook-margin { margin: 20px !important; }
</style>
<![endif]-->4. Using Borders as a Padding Alternative
If padding doesn't render as expected, you can use borders with the same color as the background of the email. This method works well in Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook Web, Outlook Desktop, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail.
For example, instead of using padding-top: 20px, you can use border-top: 20px solid #ffffff if the background color of the email is white.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td style="border-top: 20px solid #ffffff;">
Your content here
</td>
</tr>
</table>5. Avoid Negative Margins
Negative margins are not well supported in Outlook. Instead, use padding or nested tables to adjust spacing.
H. Webfont rendering
Outlook only supports web-safe fonts and ignores custom or Google fonts, rendering email text in Times New Roman. To ensure proper font rendering, use a fallback font with conditional code:
<!--[if mso]>
<style>
h1 {
font-family: 'YourWebFont', Arial, sans-serif;
}
</style>
<![endif]-->I. DPI Scaling issue
DPI scaling issues in Outlook can cause blurry or misaligned elements, especially on high-resolution screens (1920Ă1080 and above). This happens due to DPI settings (e.g., 125% on Windows 10). To fix this:
1. Use Pixel Units:
Always use pixel values (px) for dimensions, ensuring consistent rendering across devices.
2. Doctype Declaration:
Use XHTML 1.0 Transitional or HTML 4.01 Transitional for better compatibility
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">3. VML for Outlook:
Add the following to support features like background images and rounded borders in older Outlook versions:
<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">4. Office-Specific Settings:
Add this to the <head> to prevent DPI issues:
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
<o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml>
<![endif]-->5. MSO Magic for Spacing:
Use these inline styles to ensure scalable cellpadding and cellspacing:
<table cellspacing="10" cellpadding="10" style="mso-cellspacing: 10px; mso-padding-alt: 10px 10px 10px 10px">
</table>J. Outlook Dark Mode and Color Issues
When designing HTML emails, Outlook's Dark Mode can override or distort your intended color schemesâespecially with colors that start with #FF (such as #FFFFFF, #FF0000, #FF9900, etc.).
Outlook tries to "help" by inverting or modifying these colors in dark mode to maintain legibility. But this often leads to unexpected color changesâlike white (#FFFFFF) turning black or bright reds getting muted.
Why #FFxxxx Colors Have Problems?
These colors fall into the pure red range in the RGB color spectrum (since FF = 255 in red channel). Dark mode in Outlook uses automatic color inversion for better contrast, but that inversion affects these colors more drastically.
1. Use Similar Colors Not Starting With FF
Instead of pure white #FFFFFF, try using a very light gray like #F2F2F2 or #FAFAFA. Instead of #FF0000 (pure red), try something like #E60000.
2. Force Color Using msobgcolor and Conditional Comments
You can override background colors in Outlook with Microsoft-specific code.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<!--[if mso]>
<td bgcolor="#FAFAFA" style="padding: 20px;">
<![endif]-->
<!--[if !mso]><!-->
<td style="background-color: #FAFAFA; padding: 20px;">
<!--<![endif]-->
<p style="color: #E60000; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
This is text using a red color (#E60000) that works better in dark mode.
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
K. Image height is stretched in outlook old desktop version
Outlook Desktop (especially the Windows versions that use Word as the rendering engine) tends to override the style="height: auto;" when an HTML image tag also includes a height="..." attribute. This can lead to stretched or squished images.
To make sure your image maintains the correct aspect ratio and looks consistent across all email clients (including Outlook), you should:
- Remove the height HTML attribute (height="472" in this case)
- Use only the CSS height: auto; in the style attribute
- Use width and max-width for scaling
<!--[if mso]>
<table bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tr><td height="20"></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;">
<![endif]-->
<a class="arc-link" href="#" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: underline;">
<img
src="your-image-url.jpg"
alt="Descriptive Text"
style="width: 100%; height: auto; max-width: 600px;"
width="600"
/>
</a>
<!--[if mso]>
</td></tr>
<tr><td height="30"></td></tr>
</table>
<![endif]-->
Email rendering can feel like a game of âWill it break in Outlook?â â but with the right coding practices, you can ensure your emails look sharp across all clients and devices.
By understanding how Outlook treats fonts, images, colors, DPI scaling, and table spacing, you can avoid the most common design pitfalls. Stick to pixel-based layouts, use conditional MSO fixes, test in dark mode, and always preview your emails using tools like Litmus or Email on Acid before sending.
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