Email Not Displaying Correctly in Gmail: Fix CSS Grid Broken Columns for SendGrid for Deliverability & Spam Audits
Spam filters analyze email HTML code quality alongside body copy. Unclosed tags, excessive styling block nesting, and broken link parameters are flagged as spam risks. Below is the targeted integration guide to fix CSS Grid Broken Columns inside Gmail Web (Desktop) templates when using SendGrid.
Technical Breakdown
Gmail Web (Desktop) uses the Goog/WebKit Layout Engine which lacks support for standard rendering rules. This causes CSS Grid Broken Columns 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. Run your finished layouts through the Spam Word Auditor to catch trigger phrases and verify structural delivery alignments before launching.
Remediation Code Block
Always compile grid layouts using standard percentage-width or pixel-width nested tables aligned with the align='left' attribute. This acts as a responsive grid block that floats and adapts naturally to any viewport size. In your SendGrid campaign manager, make sure you configure your links to run via {{{unsubscribe}}}.
<table role="presentation" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="48%" align="left" valign="top" style="padding-bottom:10px;">Col 1</td>
<td width="4%"></td>
<td width="48%" align="left" valign="top" style="padding-bottom:10px;">Col 2</td>
</tr>
</table>Live Code Sandbox Test
How to Deploy inside SendGrid
Copy the fixed VML or table wrapper code block from the remediation box above.
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.