How will my campaigns look in Outlook 2007?

Every email program out there interprets HTML code a little bit differently, and Outlook 2007 is no exception. In fact, there are a handful of specific limitations with this new version of Outlook, but those limitations won't have much bearing on campaigns created with Emma's click-and-build layouts, except in a handful of situations. And to make good news even better, there are things you can do in those situations to optimize your campaigns for recipients using Outlook 2007.

In this guide, we'll cover the two most common ways that Outlook 2007's way of interpreting HTML could affect your Emma emails. (If you're designing your own HTML code, you'll also want to read our advanced tips page.)

The average campaign will look just the same. For example, here's a comparison of how our last Ask Emma campaign would appear in Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Mac Mail, and Yahoo:

Outlook 2003 | click to view	Outlook 2007 | click to view
Mac Mail | click to view	Yahoo | click to view

Outlook 2007 and Background Images
Occasionally, we use background images behind your designed stationery header, allowing your header to stretch to match the width of your content. In Outlook 2007, those background images won't show at all. So, if you create an extra-wide campaign, your Outlook 2007 viewers might see something like this:

Outlook 2003 | click to view	Outlook 2007 | click to view
Mac Mail | click to view	Yahoo | click to view

A new addition to our proof tab will tell you when your campaign dimensions have exceeded what they were designed to be. Common culprits that stretch campaigns are horizontal rules longer than 550 pixels, and several large images side-by-side.

Outlook 2007 and Animated GIFs
If you're fond of adding animated GIFs to your campaigns, keep in mind that Outlook 2007 users won't see the additional layers of the GIF file. Instead, they'll just see the first frame of your GIF as a typical picture.

-> For more on Outlook 2007, continue on to our advanced tips…