View Standard Fix
USE CASE Target

Email Not Displaying Correctly in Gmail: Fix Outlook Background Image Collapse for SendGrid for Editorial & Content Newsletters

Editorial newsletters rely on content layout readability and structural text spacing. If fonts default to Times New Roman or layout borders break, subscriber engagement metrics suffer. Below is the targeted integration guide to fix Outlook Background Image Collapse inside Gmail App (iOS & Android) templates when using SendGrid.

Technical Breakdown

Gmail App (iOS & Android) uses the WebKit / Blink which lacks support for standard rendering rules. This causes Outlook Background Image Collapse elements to break or collapse when rendering templates.

SendGrid Behaviors

SendGrid's template parser automatically injects custom style tags that can override inline styles. Always use inline style definitions and define clear target widths. Keep your editorial body clean. Strip redundant CSS class definitions using Vaporize to ensure the newsletter stays under Gmail's 102KB clipping ceiling.

Remediation Code Block

To resolve this in Outlook desktop, you must wrap your element or cell inside a Microsoft VML (Vector Markup Language) shapes structure that declares the background image explicitly using the 'v:background' or 'v:fill' vector properties. In your SendGrid campaign manager, make sure you configure your links to run via {{{unsubscribe}}}.

<td background="https://example.com/bg.jpg" bgcolor="#222222" valign="top" style="background-image: url('https://example.com/bg.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover;">
  <!--[if mso]>
  <v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:600px;height:300px;">
    <v:fill type="tile" src="https://example.com/bg.jpg" color="#222222" />
    <v:textbox inset="0,0,0,0">
  <![endif]-->
  <div>Overlay Content</div>
  <!--[if mso]>
    </v:textbox>
  </v:rect>
  <![endif]-->
</td>

Live Code Sandbox Test

Interactive SendGrid Custom Sandbox

Target Environment: Gmail App (iOS & Android)

How to Deploy inside SendGrid

1

Copy the fixed VML or table wrapper code block from the remediation box above.

2

Open SendGrid Design Editor, toggle the view mode to Code Editor, or insert a custom 'Code' module block inside your drag-and-drop layout. Drop the corrected code inside the box.

Targeted Fixes by Use Case & Industry