Outlook nuances: tips for a better email experience

Modified on Wed, 22 Nov 2023 at 08:49 AM

Outlook is a popular email client used by millions of people worldwide. However, there are some nuances that can affect your email design and formatting. In this article, we'll discuss two common issues and provide tips to help you avoid them.

Background image - Email client compatibility

According to our tests, the following clients do not support background images:

Outlook desktop on Windows (However, background images work on Outlook 2011 & Outlook 2016 on OS X, and on outlook.com)
Lotus Notes 7
free.fr email client
T-Online.de email client
Xfinity / Comcast email client

We always recommend setting a background colour similar to your background image. This way your design will still work if your background image fails to display.

Unicode appearing in Outlook emails

Unicode are bits of formatting from other programs that do not translate when copied into Audience Republic.

Avoid Copy-Paste: Do not copy and paste directly from programs like Microsoft Word or Outlook, as these can include hidden formatting that doesn't work well with emails.
Paste as Plain Text: If you need to use text from these programs, they should first paste it into a basic text editor like Notepad, which removes any special formatting. After that, they can copy from Notepad and paste it into Beefree.
Format in Audience Republic: Once the text is in Audience Republic, format using the tools provided.

If you follow the above guidelines, then no Unicodes should be added to your emails.

Still need help?