Gmail HTML clipping on long emails

You have likely come across this message in Gmail before "[Message clipped] View entire message":

It's not a great experience as the recipient, and it's less than ideal as the sender, as most people probably won't bother to click through meaning important parts of your emails won't be seen.

What causes this?

Gmail automatically "clips" emails that have HTML larger than 102KB, hiding part of the message behind a “View entire message” link.

Not only is this frustrating, when this happens, the tracking code used to record email opens may not load correctly, which can affect open tracking in Metorik.

In Engage, Metorik will now automatically show you a warning when previewing the email, if we detect the HTML size to be over 102KB. You'll see this in a yellow alert at the top of the page, like so:

In this article, we’ll explain why Gmail clips emails, what that means for tracking, and how to reduce the chance of it happening.

What happens when Gmail clips an email

Every email is made up of underlying code. This includes:

• The visible text in the email.
• Links and tracking parameters.
• HTML used for layout and styling.
• Any additional metadata or scripts.

Each character in the email’s code is roughly 1–2 bytes. When the total size of that code exceeds Gmail’s 102KB limit, Gmail hides part of the message.

When an email is clipped, the portion of the code responsible for tracking opens may also be hidden. As a result, the open event may not be recorded in Metorik.

To avoid this, emails should stay under Gmail’s 102KB limit so the full message, and its tracking code, can load correctly.

How to reduce the chance of Gmail clipping

Here are some practical ways to keep your emails below Gmail’s clipping threshold.

1) Change the subject line when sending tests

Gmail often groups emails with the same subject line into a single conversation. If you send yourself multiple test emails with the same subject, Gmail may combine them, increasing the total message size and triggering clipping.

For testing purposes

• Change the subject line slightly for each test, or
• Delete previous test emails before sending another.

When the email is sent to your customers, clipping is much less likely to occur.

2) Remove extra formatting from copied content

Copying and pasting content from other tools (like blogs, Google docs, Word files, or design apps) can introduce hidden formatting and unnecessary HTML. You won't necessarily see the formatting, but the code is there taking up valuable space.

To avoid this, you can either paste your content into a plain text file first, and then copy it again from there, or use some keyboard shortcuts when pasting the content into the email builder.

• To paste without formatting on a PC, press Ctrl + Shift + V
• To paste without formatting on a Mac, press Option + Shift + Command + V

This can significantly reduce the overall message size, and can help reduce unexpected styling.

3) Remove unnecessary content or layout blocks

If clipping still occurs, the email may simply be too large.

Before making major changes:

• Duplicate the email so you have a backup of the original content, or click on the individual blocks and press save to save these to your blocks library.

Then consider:

• Removing sections that aren’t essential — ie; you may have each text content in it's own row. You could move multiple text blocks into the one row. This reduces the about of layout code, bringing the HTML size down too.
• Deleting extra decorative or redundant elements.
• Simplifying complex layouts.
• Use the padding options for spacing content rather than adding additional spacing blocks

4) Remove unnecessary images

Changing image dimensions does not reduce message's HTML size since images are loaded externally. However, removing images does reduce the amount of HTML in the email, especially if you have lots and lots of images.

If an image isn’t adding value, deleting it can help keep the email under Gmail’s limit, as well as make the email load faster for your customers.

5) Use “Read more” links for long content

If you can’t reasonably remove content replace long sections of text with a shorter summary add a "Read more" link to direct readers to the full content on your website.

This keeps the email smaller, makes the experience clearer for recipients, and ensures opens are tracked correctly.