View Standard Fix
USE CASE Target

Outlook Email Broken Layout Fix: Resolve Outlook Background Image Collapse 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 Outlook 2016 templates when using Klaviyo.

Technical Breakdown

Outlook 2016 uses the Microsoft Word (MSO) which lacks support for standard rendering rules. This causes Outlook Background Image Collapse elements to break or collapse when rendering templates.

Klaviyo Behaviors

Klaviyo's drag-and-drop template parser automatically wraps all user-defined block sections in proprietary 'kl-part' class selectors. When rendering templates inside Microsoft Word engines (Outlook 2007-2021), Klaviyo's nested flex fallback blocks can cause structural tables to collapse or shift columns. You must use explicit table widths to override Klaviyo's styling wraps. 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 Klaviyo 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 Klaviyo Custom Sandbox

Target Environment: Outlook 2016

How to Deploy inside Klaviyo

1

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

2

Open your Klaviyo template editor. Drag an 'HTML' block directly into your layout timeline (do not use a standard text box). Clear the default skeleton content inside the Klaviyo markup editor and paste the RenderOps corrected inline code.

Targeted Fixes by Use Case & Industry