Gmail app on Android showing incorrect table layout

Other Questions Gmail
1

I’m experiencing an issue with how emails look on the Gmail app for Android. I designed a responsive email template using tables, and it works fine in nearly every other email client like desktop Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail, as well as the Gmail app on iOS.

But when I check the same template on the Android version of the Gmail app, the table spacing appears to be off. It seems like there’s unwanted padding or margins that disrupt the design’s layout.

Below is a simplified example of my table layout:

<table width="600" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
  <tr>
    <td class="header-section" style="padding: 20px;">
      <h1>Welcome Email</h1>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="content-area" style="padding: 15px;">
      <p>Your main content goes here</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="footer-block" style="padding: 10px;">
      <p>Footer information</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

Does anyone else have the same problem with the Android Gmail client? If so, are there any fixes for the table spacing issue?

2

android gmail’s terrible with tables. slap display: block; on your td elements - android gets confused with table cells and this fixes the rendering. also throw mso-table-lspace: 0pt; mso-table-rspace: 0pt; on your table tag. cleans up spacing issues across clients, especially android.

3

I’ve faced this same issue for years while building email campaigns. Android Gmail has peculiar rendering quirks that can be frustrating. What worked for me is to add explicit font-size declarations to every table cell, even if it seems redundant. Android can apply unexpected default spacing when font-size is not specified. Additionally, include style="margin: 0; padding: 0;" directly on your table element instead of just the cells, as Android Gmail randomly assigns margins to table containers that other clients ignore. Another tip is to set line-height: 1; on cells meant only for spacing or structural purposes. The difference in rendering between iOS and Android Gmail can genuinely be maddening, but these adjustments typically resolve spacing issues without affecting other clients.