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USE CASE Target

Outlook Email Broken Layout Fix: Resolve Outlook Background Image Collapse for Editorial & Content Newsletters

Editorial newsletters rely on content layout readability and structural text spacing. If fonts default to Times New Roman or layout borders break, subscriber engagement metrics suffer. Below is the targeted integration guide to fix Outlook Background Image Collapse inside Outlook 2019 templates when using Brevo (Sendinblue).

Technical Breakdown

Outlook 2019 uses the Microsoft Word (MSO) which lacks support for standard rendering rules. This causes Outlook Background Image Collapse elements to break or collapse when rendering templates.

Brevo (Sendinblue) Behaviors

Brevo's rendering system injects inline spacing helpers to support their responsive editor, which can cause column overlaps in Outlook. Using explicit table alignments is required. Keep your editorial body clean. Strip redundant CSS class definitions using Vaporize to ensure the newsletter stays under Gmail's 102KB clipping ceiling.

Remediation Code Block

To resolve this in Outlook desktop, you must wrap your element or cell inside a Microsoft VML (Vector Markup Language) shapes structure that declares the background image explicitly using the 'v:background' or 'v:fill' vector properties. In your Brevo (Sendinblue) campaign manager, make sure you configure your links to run via {{ unsubscribe }}.

<td background="https://example.com/bg.jpg" bgcolor="#222222" valign="top" style="background-image: url('https://example.com/bg.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover;">
  <!--[if mso]>
  <v:rect xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" fill="true" stroke="false" style="width:600px;height:300px;">
    <v:fill type="tile" src="https://example.com/bg.jpg" color="#222222" />
    <v:textbox inset="0,0,0,0">
  <![endif]-->
  <div>Overlay Content</div>
  <!--[if mso]>
    </v:textbox>
  </v:rect>
  <![endif]-->
</td>

Live Code Sandbox Test

Interactive Brevo (Sendinblue) Custom Sandbox

Target Environment: Outlook 2019

How to Deploy inside Brevo (Sendinblue)

1

Copy the fixed VML or table wrapper code block from the remediation box above.

2

Open Brevo's template canvas, select the element you wish to configure, click 'Edit HTML' or insert a standalone 'HTML' content block, and paste the code.

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