This Mail Designer 365 best practice guide covers five practical ways to build more reliable HTML email templates. Use these checks for text styles, layout blocks, image links, mobile layouts, and pre-send testing.

Mail Designer 365 Best Practice Guide: Use Text Styles

Text styles make your design more reliable when sending, as they are automatically set up with a fallback font. This means your text will be displayed using an email safe font, should there be any compatibility issues with the first font you've chosen.

In this example, there is no text style or no fallback font set up. If the font 'Allerta Stencil' is unavailable, readers will receive an unformatted message.

You can learn more about setting up text styles here.

It is also a good idea to set up text styles, as they help you to keep all text consistent throughout your design. Without a style, editing newsletter text is more difficult, as you will have to apply changes to every section of your design manually.

2. Use text layout blocks for email copy

Use the designated text layout blocks for any email copy, as you may run into compatibility issues otherwise. Email designs which are purely made up of images often encounter problems after sending.

What could go wrong?

• Some email providers block images in emails by default. Your all-image email will appear blank and readers will miss your message.
• Using only images also increases the size your email; making it much slower to load.
• Spam filters can detect and trap image-only emails as a precaution.

This email consists solely of image elements. Although it's hard to see a problem while editing inside Mail Designer, after sending, you could run into compatibility issues.

Decorative text like buttons and eye-catchers are ok to go in an image area. Any copy which is important to the message of your email should be displayed in a text block.

This design looks almost the same as the first, but is much better practice. Text is contained in text blocks and images in image areas.

3. One link per image block

Unlike text blocks, where you can include as many different text links as you like, you can only use one link per image block. This is because the link attaches itself to the entire area of the block, rather than the individual design element you are referring to.

In this example, 4 buttons have been placed in one image block. Only one link will work per image area.

To link two or more images (e.g. social media buttons, product catalogue listings, etc.), you will need to use a multi-image layout block as a workaround. Each design element needs to be linked inside its own image area in order for the links to work correctly.

Use a multi-image layout block if you want to add additional links.

You can find more information on how to insert multiple image links here.

4. Think about your mobile version

You can customise content in the smartphone view to make it more suitable for mobile users. This is done by detaching the respective layout blocks to separate them from the main design (see this tutorial.)

We would advise against detaching all of your mobile blocks from the main layout. Not only does it create a much larger file size (you essentially have two email designs in one), it also means that any changes you make to the content of your email will have to be made twice.

Detaching all of your mobile blocks from your main layout as shown here will increase the size of your design file and make editing more difficult.

5. Don't change your design following export

As we have no means of testing external or custom code, our team cannot guarantee that changes made outside of Mail Designer 365 app will be compatible.

It is best practice to carry out any changes inside the app and re-export new versions until you have settled on your final design.

When you are copying your exported code into your ESP's editor, don't change any aspects of it. We cannot guarantee your design will look the same as you intended it to if you change it.

With Mail Designer 365 you can use the search and sort option to organize your designs to your preference and also search for designs when you're in a hurry. Here's how...

How to quickly find a design

In the top right-hand corner of the design chooser you can find a search box:

Use this search box to quickly search a design by name:

How to sort your designs

Make sure that you are on the "My Designs" section of your Mail designer 365 window. The sort feature is not available in the "All Design Ideas" section.

In the bottom bar of the "My Designs" section of the design chooser you can find the sort menu:

Click on an option to sort your designs to your personal preference. For example, you can choose to sort your designs from the following options:

If you click on an option, your sort preference will be applied to your designs and automatically remembered by Mail Designer 365. For example, here designs have been sorted alphabetically (Title A-Z.)

The language settings of Mail Designer 365 follow the language configuration on your Mac. To change the interface language, update the preferred language in macOS, quit Mail Designer 365 completely, and reopen the app. The screenshots below show the older System Preferences interface; newer macOS versions call this area System Settings.

Open Language & Region on your Mac

Open System Settings or System Preferences, depending on your macOS version. These controls manage the preferred languages available to apps on the Mac.

Choose Language & Region. If the layout on your Mac differs from the screenshot, use the search field in System Settings to find Language & Region directly.

Add the preferred language

Use the plus button to add the language you want to use. macOS displays a list of available system languages; select the preferred entry and continue with Add.

Please note: Mail Designer 365 is currently only available in English, German and Chinese. Selecting another macOS language does not create an additional Mail Designer 365 translation.

Confirm the selection by clicking Add. If macOS asks whether the new language should become the primary language, choose the option that matches how broadly you want the change to apply.

Set the preferred language order

In the older System Preferences interface, drag the preferred language to the top of the list. The language order tells compatible apps which localization to use first. On newer macOS versions, follow the equivalent preferred-language controls shown in Language & Region.

Changing the language settings of Mail Designer 365 may also affect the language used by other compatible apps when you change the Mac-wide preference. Review the macOS confirmation before applying a system-wide language change.

Quit and reopen Mail Designer 365

Mail Designer 365 must restart before it can use the updated language preference. Choose Mail Designer 365 > Quit Mail Designer from the menu. Do not only close the design window, because the application may remain open in the background.

Reopen Mail Designer 365 and check the menus and main interface. The app should now use the first supported language from the macOS preference order.

If the Mail Designer 365 language does not change

First confirm that Mail Designer 365 was fully quit and reopened. Then return to Language & Region and verify the preferred-language order. If the selected language is not supported by the installed app version, Mail Designer 365 uses another supported language from the list.

If the interface still shows the previous language, restart the Mac after saving your work and check again. Avoid changing document content or recreating a design to solve an interface-language issue; the setting applies to the application, not to the text inside an email design.

Before changing the application language

Save the open email design before changing the macOS language order or quitting the app. The interface-language setting does not translate the text, links, subject line, or other campaign content you created. Those parts of the email remain exactly as written and must be localized separately when you prepare a campaign for another audience.

If several people collaborate on the same design, tell them that screenshots or menu names may appear in another language on your Mac. This helps avoid confusion when following instructions together. The design file remains compatible; only the surrounding Mail Designer 365 interface labels change.

Confirm the result after reopening

After Mail Designer 365 restarts, check a few familiar menus and controls to confirm that the expected supported language is active. Open the existing design and make sure its content, images, and links are unchanged. If you only needed the alternate interface temporarily, restore the previous macOS language order, quit the app again, and reopen it.

These checks make changing the language settings of Mail Designer 365 predictable without altering the campaign itself.

What is a beta version?

Beta versions are versions that are available for testing. Please note: These are not the final versions that will be released to the public. However, many people may want to try a beta version. It gives them a chance to check out some of the more current changes and improvements to the software. People can also report bugs, glitches, and other flaws to the developers. This is helpful because issues can then be addressed before the public release of an official version.

How to enable Mail Designer 365 beta versions

To enable Mail Designer 365 beta versions, join the Mail Designer beta program through the app's update settings. This early-access option is available when you bought Mail Designer 365 from our website. Please note: The Insider Program is not available for the Apple Mac App Store version.

Become a Mail Designer 365 Insider...

Open Mail Designer 365 on your Mac. Choose "Mail Designer 365" > "Settings" from the top menu bar.

Open the "Updates" section and enable the option to load beta versions.

Since Beta versions are meant to test features and compatibility, Mail Designer 365 will remind you to have a backup of your app and designs.

Click "Understood" whenever you are ready. Once you've restarted the app, you will be able to see whether you are using a Beta version by the label in the top right corner of the app window:

Updates...

When it comes to checking for updates, Mail Designer 365 will check for new versions on app start. Also, you can choose "Mail Designer 365" >" Check for Updates…" from the top menu bar.

Test your HTML email before sending

Preview the complete message on desktop and mobile, then send proofs to the inboxes your audience uses most. Check text contrast, image alternative text, link destinations, fallback background colors, and the browser-view version. These email client compatibility tips reduce surprises while keeping the message useful when images or advanced styling are unavailable.

For accessible wording and link text, review the W3C writing guidance. You can also explore more Mail Designer 365 email templates before adapting your layout.