Email Font and Text Formatting Issues

Font and text formatting issues can disrupt the appearance of your email templates when designing in Postcards Email Builder. These problems, such as custom fonts not rendering, inconsistent spacing, or special characters displaying incorrectly, often arise due to limitations in certain email platforms like Gmail or Outlook, or from little quirks in how content gets pasted and saved.

Below is a guide to common font and text formatting problems, and how you can fix them using built-in tools and smart workarounds to make sure your emails look clean and professional everywhere.

Common Issues You Might Run Into

Here are some text and font problems that users sometimes face:

Custom Fonts Not Showing Up: Fonts like Recoleta, Montserrat, or Poppins might not appear correctly in Gmail, Outlook, or on mobile. You’ll usually see them switch to basic fonts like Arial.
Text Looks Off: Text might suddenly become bold, go missing, or display with uneven thickness across devices.
Spacing is Inconsistent: Line heights might be too tight or loose, spacing breaks, or grid layouts shift, especially when exporting to platforms like Zoho or Mailchimp.
Special Characters Show as “?” Arrows or other symbols might display incorrectly in some email clients.
Text Colour Changes: Colors might auto-adjust due to platform presets or random editor overrides.
Problems After Pasting: Text copied from WordPress or websites brings in weird styles, links don’t save, or text becomes uneditable during collaboration.

Why These Problems Happen

These issues usually pop up in a few key situations:

When exporting to email platforms (Outlook, Gmail, Mailchimp, Zoho, etc.)
When using custom fonts that aren’t fully supported in certain email clients
When pasting content from external websites or editors into Postcards
When rendering emails on different devices with different email software

How To Fix These Issues

Here are the top fixes to get your fonts and text formatting working smoothly.

1. Font Rendering Fixes

Export Text as Image: If a font like Poppins or Montserrat isn’t showing up properly, use the “Export as Image” option to preserve the look across all platforms, even Outlook!
Check on Mobile: Preview your design in mobile view under “Preview & Share” and switch to a web-safe font if needed.

2. Text Formatting & Spacing Fixes

Fix Bold Text Issues: If your text is suddenly bold or disappearing, try holding Shift + Paste to remove extra formatting. You can also edit the text directly and remove bold manually.
Line Height Adjustments: Set line height to 150–175% of your font size to improve readability. For example, use 28px for a 14px font size.
Avoid Manual Spacing: Don’t use spaces or empty lines to create spacing. Instead, use Grid or Group elements from the Postcards sidebar for cleaner layouts.

3. Special Characters & Color Fixes

Replace Unsupported Characters: Symbols like arrows might not render in Outlook. Stick to standard characters to avoid seeing “?” in your emails.
Fix Random Color Changes: If text color changes unexpectedly, double-check the right sidebar in the “Text” section and reapply the correct color. Then re-export using “Download as ZIP” or “Copy Email Code”.

4. Pasting & Editing Tips

Paste Without Formatting: Use “Paste and Match Style” when bringing in content from WordPress or other sites. Or paste it into Notepad first to strip out messy formatting.
Hyperlinks Not Saving? Try clearing your browser cache, switching to incognito mode, or logging out and back in. Then reapply the link and save your changes.
Locked Text Blocks in Collaboration: If working with others, only one person should edit a text block at a time. If something gets stuck, duplicate the project to unlock it.

5. Editor & Export Fixes

Clear Browser Cache: If changes don’t save or load correctly, a quick cache clear usually solves the problem.
Check Your HTML: It’ll help you spot issues early before importing to platforms like Mailchimp or Gmail.

Platform-Specific Advice

Outlook

Stick with pixel-based font sizes and safe fonts like Arial or Roboto.
Avoid fancy characters and export using .OFT or .EMLTPL formats via “Outlook Template”.

Mailchimp & Zoho

Always preview on mobile before exporting. Test send the email to yourself to double-check alignment and font behavior.

Gmail & Klaviyo

Use web-safe fonts or export text as images for reliable rendering.
Enable “Host images/fonts online” when exporting to ensure assets load correctly.

Final Tips For Consistent Typography

To keep your fonts and formatting consistent across all email platforms:

Use web-safe fonts as backups
Export as an image if the design must stay exactly as-is
Set proper line height and avoid using extra spaces for layout
Test, preview, and export with image/font hosting enabled

If something still doesn’t work right, Postcards support is just a message away; we’ll help you sort it out quickly.