You may have noticed that your SharpSpring emails look different in Microsoft Outlook than in other email clients, such as Gmail or Apple Mail. When it comes to rendering emails, every email client has a different approach based on its own unique standards. This article will provide information on email renders in Microsoft Outlook.
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Regarding Rendering Issues with Microsoft Outlook 2016 and 2019
Microsoft Outlook does not render email images correctly at times. Emails created in SharpSpring will display regular, static background images for Outlook 2016 and 2019. However, due to these rendering limitations on Microsoft Outlook’s part, dynamic content in sections with background images will not render correctly.
This means that SharpSpring email layouts that contain dynamic content will not render background images in Outlook 2016 or Outlook 2019, but will render correctly otherwise.
Regarding Rendering Issues with Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2010, and 2013
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SharpSpring cannot influence how email clients render HTML emails. SharpSpring has a Litmus Test feature built into the email designer that allows you to see what your emails look like in different email clients. This is because email clients do not render HTML emails the same way, among other reasons. There may be times when your emails vary across email clients. For example, they may look great in Gmail but appear distorted in Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook 2007, Microsoft Outlook 2010, and Microsoft Outlook 2013 use Microsoft Word to render the HTML of their emails. This causes the formatting of emails to be rendered differently from other email clients like Gmail or Apple Mail, which is due to the fact that Microsoft Word is meant for print design and not HTML. These versions of Microsoft Outlook do not support the following:
Refer to the Email Standards Project for more information on inconsistencies with email rendering across platforms. |
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Important: Microsoft no longer supports Outlook 2007. As such, SharpSpring does not guarantee that email templates and emails created in the email designer will render correctly in Microsoft Outlook 2007.
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Important: Due to how Microsoft Outlook renders emails, two-column layout email templates with an image and text will flip the layout of their renders when sent to clients.
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Note: SharpSpring offers Professional Services to assist with custom coding.
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Regarding Border-Radius Values for Buttons
Microsoft Outlook has issues with rendering buttons. In the past, buttons with a modified border-radius value did not render in emails in Microsoft Outlook. This meant that emails in Microsoft Outlook would render with square buttons, regardless of the time invested in modifying them. Ultimately, this is due to Microsoft Outlook's difficulties with rendering CSS.
Microsoft Outlook can now render buttons with a modified border-radius value, but there is a catch: buttons in layouts with background images will not render border-radius. In order to render border-radius and keep rendering issues to a minimum when using buttons in Microsoft Outlook, make sure that they are in layouts without background images.
Legacy Emails: Accessing Email HTML
For emails to render properly in Microsoft Outlook, you will need to edit the HTML of an email created in SharpSpring.
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To access an email's HTML, do the following:
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Note: This is for legacy emails only. This does not need to be done in simple and designer emails.
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view code in the email designer.
Legacy Emails: Adding Buttons via HTML
To add a button, you will need to create the HTML. The following code is an example of a button's HTML. Copy-and-paste the following code where you would like the button to appear in the email:
<div class="editable" data-editable="standard">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>
<a href="www.sharpspring.com" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 3px; -webkit-border-radius: 3px; -moz-border-radius: 3px; background-color: #EB7035; border-top: 12px solid #EB7035; border-bottom: 12px solid #EB7035; border-right: 18px solid #EB7035; border-left: 18px solid #EB7035; display: inline-block;">
Click Here!
</a>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table></div>
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When using the preceding code, consider the following when adding buttons:
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Note: This is for legacy emails only. This does not need to be done in simple and designer emails.
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Legacy Emails: Centering Images via HTML
Centering an image in the email designer does not always translate when rendering in Microsoft Outlook.
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To ensure that your images are centered, wrap your images with one of the following tags:
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Note: This is for legacy emails only. This does not need to be done in simple and designer emails.
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Legacy Emails: Placing Page Breaks
If your email exceeds 1800 pixels, Microsoft Outlook will automatically create a page break for you. This page break may affect how your email is read by your leads. As such, controlling where the page break occurs is key.
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To create a page break, do the following:
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Note: This is for legacy emails only. This does not need to be done in simple and designer emails.
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Legacy Emails: Adjusting Spacing and Padding
If you have an image and a paragraph next to each other, the spacing between the two elements may render differently in Microsoft Outlook than it does in other email clients. To add additional spacing between two pieces of content, you must create a three-column table with the middle column being the space between the other two.
To create such a table, do the following:
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Note: Tables are only available in legacy emails. This does not need to be done in simple and designer emails.
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Table in the Content Editor toolbar.
Emphasizing Embedded Fonts
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Microsoft Outlook will often replace your font with Times New Roman or another standard font. If you are using a custom font, an |
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Placement of the tag should appear similar to the following code:
<style>
body {
font-family: Georgia, serif !important;
}
</style>
<br><br><br><br><br>
Modifying Line Height
Older versions of Microsoft Outlook do not support line height that is designated without a percent. You need to declare a line height as a percentage in order for Microsoft Outlook to respect the spacing between text.
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Regarding Consistent Rendering
Keep these best practices in mind as you design emails for Outlook in SharpSpring:
- Use a SharpSpring template. All of SharpSpring's email templates have been designed to look great in the majority of common email clients.
- Use "web-safe" fonts in your email. Some of the standard fonts safe to use for webpages and emails are Helvetica, Arial, and Courier New.
- Test thoroughly. Open your email in various email clients to make sure it looks like how you want it to, or consider using a tool like Litmus to test the email in all of the major clients.
- Do not rely on images to convey your message. Many of today's email clients do not render images by default. If you are counting on leads to click an image link to access your website, you might be out of luck.