Outlook Email Broken Layout Fix: Resolve Gmail Line-Height Shifts 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 Gmail Line-Height Shifts inside Outlook 2013 templates when using Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC).
Technical Breakdown
Outlook 2013 uses the Microsoft Word (MSO) which lacks support for standard rendering rules. This causes Gmail Line-Height Shifts elements to break or collapse when rendering templates.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) Behaviors
SFMC's Content Builder wraps block exports in div frames that can break conditional comments. Additionally, AMPScript calls for personalizations can trigger parsing errors if they are inside MSO conditional comments. Ensure your AMPScript tags are evaluated *outside* the VML blocks. Run your finished layouts through the Spam Word Auditor to catch trigger phrases and verify structural delivery alignments before launching.
Remediation Code Block
Define line-height as a unitless ratio (e.g. line-height: 1.4) or in explicit percentages (e.g. line-height: 140%). Avoid mixing em and px units, and apply the styles directly to the containing td or span tags containing typography. In your Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) campaign manager, make sure you configure your links to run via %%unsubscribe_url%%.
<p style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0; mso-line-height-rule: exactly;">Typography Paragraph</p>Live Code Sandbox Test
How to Deploy inside Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC)
Copy the fixed VML or table wrapper code block from the remediation box above.
Create an 'HTML content' layout block in Content Builder. Paste the table structure. Enclose any custom merge tags inside standard AMPscript wrapper lines.