I’m having trouble with email styling when sending HTML messages. I created an email template with CSS formatting and everything looks great when I test it. The problem happens when I send the email and check it in Gmail - none of my CSS styles show up at all. The email just displays as plain text without any formatting.
I tested the same email in other email clients like Outlook and Thunderbird, and the CSS works perfectly there. The formatting displays exactly as intended with proper colors, fonts, and layout.
This seems to be a Gmail-specific issue. Has anyone encountered this before? What’s the best way to make CSS work correctly in Gmail? Are there specific CSS rules or inline styling methods that work better for Gmail compatibility?
You’re experiencing issues with CSS styling in your HTML emails when they are viewed in Gmail. Your emails render correctly in other email clients (like Outlook and Thunderbird), but Gmail displays them as plain text, ignoring all CSS formatting. This indicates a Gmail-specific rendering problem.
Understanding the “Why” (The Root Cause):
Gmail’s email rendering engine is notoriously restrictive compared to other email clients and web browsers. It actively filters out or ignores many standard CSS properties and techniques for security reasons. This is primarily due to the risk of malicious code embedded within CSS, leading to a more conservative approach. Gmail aggressively strips external stylesheets (<link> tags) and styles defined within <style> tags within the <head> or <body> of the email. It also significantly limits the CSS properties it supports, even for inline styles. Complex selectors, advanced layout techniques (like floats and absolute positioning), and certain properties (like many margin and padding shorthand values) frequently get ignored or misinterpreted. This is why your CSS works perfectly in other clients but fails in Gmail.
Step-by-Step Guide:
Convert to Inline Styles and Simplify CSS: The most reliable approach is to convert all your CSS to inline styles. This involves moving each CSS declaration directly within the HTML elements it affects. For example, instead of:
<p class="my-paragraph">This is some text.</p>
<style>
.my-paragraph {
color: blue;
font-size: 16px;
}
</style>
You would use:
<p style="color: blue; font-size: 16px;">This is some text.</p>
This process can be tedious manually. Consider using an email CSS inliner tool (many are available online) to automate this conversion. After converting to inline styles, further simplify your CSS by:
Restricting properties: Use only basic properties like background-color, color, font-family, font-size, text-align, width, and height. Avoid more complex properties like margin, padding, border, float, position, display, etc. or use their full longhand versions.
Using Tables for Layout: Gmail renders tables more reliably than divs. Consider restructuring your layout to use tables instead of relying on CSS-based positioning and layout. Avoid nested tables if possible.
Test Thoroughly in Gmail: Send test emails to a dedicated Gmail account to verify that the styling renders correctly. Test in both the web version and the mobile app as they sometimes handle CSS differently.
Validate HTML: Ensure your HTML is clean and well-formed. Gmail is sensitive to HTML errors and may drop the styles completely if the HTML itself is invalid. Use an HTML validator to check for any errors.
Common Pitfalls & What to Check Next:
Shorthand Properties: Gmail doesn’t always handle CSS shorthand properties well. Use full longhand properties (e.g., margin-top, margin-bottom, instead of margin).
Media Queries: Minimize or avoid media queries altogether; Gmail’s handling of them is inconsistent.
Dark Mode: Test your email in Gmail’s dark mode, as colors and contrast may be significantly altered.
Complex Selectors: Avoid complex CSS selectors (nested classes, attribute selectors, etc.) as these may break or be ignored completely.
Still running into issues? Share your (sanitized) config files, the exact command you ran, and any other relevant details. The community is here to help!
gmail’s the worst for this stuff. keep media queries to a minimum and skip nested tables - gmail can’t handle complex layouts. and definitely test dark mode since it destroys some color combinations.
Gmail’s way more aggressive about stripping CSS than desktop email clients. After banging my head against this for weeks, I figured out Gmail treats emails differently based on how they’re sent. Emails from certain SMTP servers or with specific headers get better treatment than others. My work emails kept their formatting while personal ones using the same template got butchered. The game changer? Gmail goes easier on emails that look legit - stuff from established domains with proper SPF and DKIM records. So beyond the usual inline CSS tricks, fix your email authentication. Gmail trusts authenticated senders and won’t filter them as hard. One more thing - Gmail’s web version strips different CSS properties than their mobile app. You’ve got to test both or you’ll miss issues.
Gmail strips most CSS styles for security reasons. Only inline CSS works, and even then it filters out tons of properties.
I hit this same wall building email campaigns. Wasted hours manually converting CSS to inline styles and testing what worked.
What saved me was automating the whole process. Instead of fighting Gmail’s limits, I built a system that processes HTML templates, converts styles to Gmail-friendly inline CSS, and sends through SMTP.
It strips unsupported properties, converts external CSS to inline, and even A/B tests versions. Takes 10 minutes to set up, saves hours of headaches.
You can build this without coding using automation tools. Check out Latenode - it handles email processing and CSS conversion automatically.
Gmail’s email rendering is significantly more restrictive compared to other clients. The main concern for many is that Gmail completely disregards CSS in <style> tags as well as external stylesheets, primarily due to security measures; inline styles are your only option.
However, even inline styles have limitations as Gmail strips various properties including floats, absolute positioning, and certain margin/padding settings. Understanding this was crucial for me, especially since my newsletter templates often failed in Gmail despite functioning perfectly in other clients.
To ensure compatibility, I recommend constructing your layouts using tables instead of divs, and keeping to basic CSS properties like background-color, font-family, text-align, and width. Avoid complex selectors entirely, and ensure that your HTML is well-structured since Gmail is less forgiving of markup errors than other clients.
Utilizing an email CSS inliner tool can help convert your stylesheets into inline styles automatically, and make sure to conduct specific tests in Gmail before sending out your emails.
I’ve hit this same wall so many times when building email templates for work. Gmail’s CSS filtering is brutal - your code looks perfect everywhere else, then Gmail just destroys it. Gmail strips out external stylesheets and style blocks completely. Their rendering engine only supports a tiny fraction of normal CSS properties compared to what you’d use on the web. Here’s what actually works: stick to table layouts with basic inline CSS. background-color, color, font-size, and text-align are usually safe. Don’t even try positioning, transforms, or fancy selectors - Gmail will just ignore them. Pro tip: Gmail hates shorthand properties. Use margin-top instead of margin. You’ll need to test everything since Gmail renders differently on web vs mobile vs different devices. I keep a dedicated Gmail test account and send multiple versions to see what actually survives across all their platforms.
Understanding the “Why” (The Root Cause):
Step-by-Step Guide:
Common Pitfalls & What to Check Next:
Still running into issues? Share your (sanitized) config files, the exact command you ran, and any other relevant details. The community is here to help!