Introduction

Have you ever sent an email only to find that Gmail cuts it off with a “View entire message” link at the bottom? That’s known as Gmail email clipping—a common issue where long emails get partially hidden in the recipient’s inbox. Gmail automatically cuts any email message larger than 102KB in size, displaying only a fraction of the information by default.

For marketers, this is more than a minor inconvenience. When an email gets clipped, important content, calls-to-action, and even tracking codes can be left out—leading to lower engagement and incomplete campaign analytics. Readers might miss your message entirely or feel frustrated by the need to click an extra link just to view the full content.

Solving this problem is critical for providing a consistent experience to your audience and ensuring that every component of your email is seen, read, and acted upon.

Key Takeaways

Gmail cuts emails when the HTML content exceeds 102KB, hiding critical chunks behind a “View entire message” link.

Clipped emails can lead to missed CTAs, inaccurate tracking, and a terrible user experience.

Common culprits include bloated HTML code, repeated material, unoptimized graphics, and outdated templates.

To avoid clipping:

• Keep email size under 102KB
• Minify HTML code
• Compress and optimize image formats
• Use clean templates and avoid stacked email threads

Regular testing with tools such as SMTPMaster, Email on Acid, and Mailtrap can help identify clipping concerns before sending.

Train your team, use optimal templates, and consider a plain-text version for email accessibility.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What Is Gmail Email Clipping?
3. Why Gmail Email Clipping Is a Problem
4. Common Causes of Gmail Email Clipping
5. How to Prevent Gmail Email Clipping
6. How to Check If Your Email Is Being Clipped
7. Best Practices to Avoid Gmail Email Clipping Long-Term
8. Conclusion

What Is Gmail Email Clipping?

Gmail email clipping occurs when Gmail cuts off the content of an email due to the message size exceeding the display limit.. Specifically, if the HTML version of your email is larger than 102 kilobytes (KB), Gmail will hide the remaining content and display a small notice that says “[Message clipped] View entire message.”

This means that recipients won’t immediately see the full email in their inbox. They’ll have to click the “View entire message” link to load the rest in a separate window. Most people don’t notice or bother to do that—so vital parts of your message may never be read.

You can usually identify that your email is being clipped by checking for that exact phrase at the bottom of your Gmail inbox preview. It’s a clear sign that the message was too large and got truncated. For marketers and newsletter senders, this can result in missed calls-to-action, incomplete branding, or skipped content that reduces the email’s overall effectiveness.

Why Gmail Email Clipping Is a Problem

Gmail email clipping isn’t just a technical glitch—it can seriously impact the effectiveness of your email campaigns.When a message is clipped, crucial content, like as calls-to-action (CTAs), promotional offers, or legal disclaimers, may be hidden from the recipient. This can result in missed conversions or compliance issues.

Another major issue is that tracking pixels often get clipped along with the rest of the email, which means your analytics may not accurately reflect open rates. As a result, you may undervalue your campaign’s performance or make decisions based on inadequate data.

From a user experience perspective, it creates friction. Clicking the “View entire message” link to read the full email disrupts the natural flow and may drive individuals to abandon the message completely. Over time, this can affect how subscribers perceive your brand—making your emails seem cluttered, broken, or unprofessional.

Common Causes of Gmail Email Clipping

Understanding what causes Gmail to clip your emails is the first step to avoiding it. One of the most common reasons is excessively large HTML code. If your email contains too many inline styles, unnecessary tags, or poorly optimized formatting, the total size can easily exceed Gmail’s 102KB limit.

Another major culprit is including entire email threads or histories in newsletters or follow-ups. Repeating previous content—especially multiple times—adds bulk to the message and increases the chances of it getting clipped.

Large, uncompressed images also contribute to the problem. Even though Gmail typically clips based on the size of the HTML, image-heavy designs can still require more code, particularly if image dimensions, alt text, and styling are overly detailed or bloated.

Lastly, using complex or outdated templates with nested tables can inflate the underlying code dramatically. These types of layouts often contain repetitive markup and excessive styling, all of which add to the email’s total size.

By identifying these issues, you can begin streamlining your emails to ensure they load in full—without being clipped by Gmail.

How to Prevent Gmail Email Clipping

1. Keep Email Size Below 102KB

The best way to keep Gmail from clipping your emails is to keep the total size of your HTML emails under 102 kilobytes. This limit only applies to the HTML component of the message, not the attachments or photos, so even if your email appears light visually, the code behind it may be heavy.

To stay within this limit, start by using tools or email testing platforms that show the size of your email before sending. Services such as Litmus, Email on Acid, and even browser-based developer tools can help discover bulky code.

Next, clean up your HTML by removing unnecessary tags, white spaces, extra line breaks, or comments. If you’re using a drag-and-drop editor, make sure it doesn’t generate bloated code. Keeping things streamlined ensures your content is fully displayed and avoids the risk of getting cut off in Gmail.

2. Minify Your HTML

The best technique to prevent Gmail from clipping your emails is to keep the overall size of your HTML email under 102 kilobytes. This limit only applies to the HTML portion of the message—not the attachments or images themselves—so even if your email looks light visually, the code behind it might be heavy.

To remain below this restriction, begin by using tools or email testing platforms that reveal the size of your email before sending. Services like Litmus, Email on Acid, or even browser-based developer tools can help identify bulky code.

Next, clean up your HTML by removing unnecessary tags, white spaces, extra line breaks, or comments. If you’re using a drag-and-drop editor, make sure it doesn’t generate bloated code. Keeping things streamlined ensures your content is fully displayed and avoids the risk of getting cut off in Gmail.

3. Optimize Images

While Gmail clipping is triggered by the size of the email’s HTML code, images can still contribute indirectly by increasing the amount of code used to display them—especially if image tags contain extra styling, sizing attributes, or lengthy URLs.

To reduce this impact, always compress your images before embedding them in your email. Use tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or built-in compression settings in your design software to reduce file sizes without losing quality.

It’s also a good practice to choose lighter image formats, such as JPEG for photos or WEBP for a balance between clarity and compression. Avoid embedding very large images or using multiple high-resolution visuals unnecessarily. Keeping images efficient ensures your emails load faster, are more mobile-friendly, and stay within Gmail’s safe size limit.

4. Avoid Copy-Pasting from Word Processors

Copying content directly from tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or other word processors can unknowingly add bulky, hidden HTML code to your email. These programs often insert extra formatting tags, inline styles, and metadata that bloat the overall email size.

To avoid this, it’s best to use plain text editors like Notepad (Windows), TextEdit (Mac in plain text mode), or clean HTML editors when preparing your email content. If you need to paste from a word processor, consider first pasting it into a plain text editor to strip out unnecessary formatting, then format it cleanly within your email editor.

By keeping your source content clean, you ensure the email code stays lightweight and won’t accidentally push the message size over Gmail’s clipping threshold.

5. Reduce Repetitive Code in Templates

One of the silent contributors to oversized emails is repeated or redundant code—especially in templates that reuse the same styling for every element. Repeating inline CSS for each section or block can quickly inflate the total size of your email’s HTML.

To prevent this, consider using modular email templates, where components are designed to be reused without duplicating the same styles over and over. Instead of writing inline styles for every element, use centralized style blocks in the of the email where possible. This allows you to define styles once and apply them across multiple sections.

Keeping your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) not only reduces the risk of Gmail clipping but also makes your templates easier to maintain and update.

6. Avoid Stacking Old Email Threads

A common mistake in email campaigns—especially newsletters—is including previous email content in the current message. Over time, this practice of stacking or forwarding old email threads adds up, significantly increasing the overall size of your email.

Instead of recycling previous versions, always start with a fresh, clean template for each new campaign. This ensures you’re only including the necessary content without piling on old code and formatting from past emails.

Avoid forwarding or replying to old newsletters when creating new ones. Doing so often pulls in the entire HTML history, which can easily push your email past Gmail’s 102KB limit and trigger clipping. Clean templates help keep your message lean, professional, and fully visible to recipients.

How to Check If Your Email Is Being Clipped

Before sending out a campaign to your entire list, it’s important to test your email for Gmail clipping. One of the simplest ways is to send a test email to a Gmail account and open it in the inbox. Scroll to the bottom and look for a message that says “[Message clipped] View entire message.” If you see this, your email has exceeded Gmail’s 102KB limit.

For a more technical check, you can use Gmail’s “Show Original” feature. Open the email, click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, and select “Show original.” This will display the full size of your email’s HTML content so you can confirm whether it’s under the 102KB limit.

Additionally, you can use email testing platforms like SMTPMaster, Email on Acid, or Mailtrap. These tools allow you to preview how your email renders across different clients, detect potential clipping issues, and highlight areas of concern before you hit “send.”

Regular testing helps ensure that your audience sees the entire email—exactly how you intended.

Best Practices to Avoid Gmail Email Clipping Long-Term

Preventing Gmail clipping isn’t a one-time fix—it takes ongoing smart habits and workflows to keep emails optimized and effective. One of the most effective practices is to keep your HTML code clean and simple. Avoid unnecessary tags, bulky styling, or outdated formatting that can bloat your message size.

Make it standard practice to test every email before sending, especially after design changes or adding new content blocks. Testing helps catch potential size issues early and ensures your message appears as intended across all inboxes.

If you work with a team, it’s important to train everyone involved in email creation—from designers to marketers—on best practices for email formatting. Alternatively, you can use professionally built templates that are already optimized for deliverability and performance.

Finally, consider including a plain-text version of your email alongside the HTML version. It won’t stop clipping, but it helps ensure recipients receive and read your message, even if it’s partially cut off.

Following these steps consistently helps protect your email campaigns from being clipped and keeps your brand communication clear and effective.

Conclusion

Gmail clipping may seem minor, but it can significantly affect your email marketing performance and engagement rates. Exceeding Gmail’s 102KB limit can hide content, break tracking, and frustrate readers—hurting engagement and campaign performance.

The good news is that clipping is completely avoidable. Keep email size small, remove extra code, optimize images, and use clean templates to ensure full message delivery and visibility. Regular testing, team training, and tools like SMTPMaster or Mailtrap help keep your email campaigns efficient, effective, and error-free.

A well-structured, optimized email boosts performance and maintains subscriber trust—small tweaks can make a big impact.

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