Outlook nuances: tips for a better email experience

Modified on Mon, 9 Sep at 4:11 PM

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 some 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.

Check and Set Character Encoding in Microsoft Outlook:

Open Microsoft Outlook and go to File > Options.
In the Outlook Options window, select Advanced from the left-hand menu.
In the International options section, ensure Automatically select encoding for outgoing messages is set to Unicode (UTF-8).
Click OK to save the changes.

To Check Character Encoding Settings on a Mac:

Open System Preferences and navigate to Language & Region.
Click on the Advanced button.
Under Character Encodings, select Unicode (UTF-8).
Click OK to save your changes.

To Repair Microsoft Outlook:

Close Outlook.
Open the Control Panel and go to Programs and Features.
Select Microsoft Office and click Change.
Choose Repair and click Continue.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the repair.

To Reinstall Microsoft Outlook:

Uninstall Outlook from your computer.
Download and install the latest version of Outlook from the Microsoft website.

My images appear oversized in Outlook

Outlook has identified this issue and recommended the following fixes:

1. Make sure that your image size settings are set to Manual width rather than Auto width.

2. Try to change the DPI settings of your image files. DPI stands for "dots per inch," and it affects how large or small an image appears on your screen. If your DPI settings are too high, you may end up with enlarged images in your email signature or messages. You can use an image processing tool such as Photoshop to change the DPI setting on the image. Alternatively, you can use an online tool such as [this one] to resize your images and reduce their DPI.

3. Another option is to disable the automatic resizing of images in Outlook. Outlook may resize large images to fit the message window, but this can cause distortion or quality loss. You can turn off this feature by going to File > Options > Mail > Compose messages > Editor Options > Advanced > Display email content. Then, uncheck the box that says "Automatically resize pictures to fit the message window" and click OK.

4. Ensure your Outlook is up-to-date. Sometimes these issues are resolved by software updates.

It should be noted that Audience Republic makes every effort to resolve any problems on our platform that are under our control. Audience Republic cannot, however, alter how emails appear after they are sent in Outlook or other email clients because these are Outlook-specific problems.

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