Email clipping happens when your message exceeds the maximum size allowed by certain email clients (like Gmail). Because of their block-based builder, Advanced Mail messages are the most likely to be affected. When this happens, recipients will see a “View entire message” link instead of your full email, which can hurt engagement and deliverability.
This article explains why clipping happens and how to prevent it.
Table of contents
Why emails get clipped
How to avoid email clipping
• Use fewer blocks
• Minimize the number of columns
• Avoid separate mobile and desktop blocks
• Be mindful of preheaders and footers
Why emails get clipped
Although the Advanced Mail editor is a block-based builder that allows you to create and layout and drag and drop the elements you want, behind the scenes, emails are built using HTML tables. This ensures that your emails are compatible across all email clients, particularly Outlook.
This is because:
- Outlook doesn’t support modern CSS the same way other clients do.
- Padding and margins can’t be applied normally.
- Tables must be wrapped and nested to simulate spacing.
- All styling must be inlined for compatibility.
This structure increases the amount of underlying code in your email.
How to avoid email clipping
Back to top
The main takeaway is that more blocks = larger emails which increase the likelihood of your email being clipped.
Each block you add:
- Is built as its own HTML table
- Contains nested tables for spacing
- Includes inline styling for compatibility
That means every block adds to the total size of your email, even if it looks simple.
Here are the best practices to avoid clipping:
Use fewer blocks
Back to top
Each block increases the total size of the email’s code.
Instead of creating a new block for every element:
- Stack multiple elements inside a single block.
- Combine content where possible.
- Simplify your layout
Minimize the number of columns
Back to top
Columns within your blocks also significantly add to the size of your email.
To reduce it:
- Use as few column layouts as possible.
- Avoid unnecessary multi-column sections.
- Keep layouts simple and streamlined.
Avoid separate mobile and desktop blocks
Back to top
Creating separate mobile and desktop-only blocks duplicates the content in the code of your email, even if only one version is displayed to each recipient.
This significantly increases email size. Instead:
- Customize mobile styling instead of creating separate mobile-only blocks.
Be mindful of preheaders and footers
Back to top
In addition to the layout of your email, the preheader and footers also add to your email’s size.
While these are necessary for emails, keeping your main content lean helps offset their code weight.
