You will learn
Gmail clipping: the two most common causes
Your email is too large
Gmail limits email messages to 102KB. If your email exceeds that limit, Gmail may clip the content and show a “View entire message” link.
How to prevent this:
-
Cut unnecessary content
Remove extra sections, repeated info, or long FAQs.
Move “nice to have” content to an internal page and link to it from the email.
Consider splitting one long email into multiple messages in the same campaign.
-
Delete images (when possible)
Resizing an image doesn’t always reduce message size meaningfully.
Removing an image entirely is more likely to reduce overall size.
-
Remove extra formatting/code
Copying from Google Docs, Word, or web pages can bring hidden formatting.
Try copying the content again and paste as plain text into Workshop, then re-apply formatting using the editor.
Tip: If you’re close to the limit, small changes (removing a divider, reducing repeated modules, shortening footer blocks) can be enough to avoid clipping.
Multiple Gmail test sends get threaded and clipped
If you send multiple test emails to Gmail with similar content and/or the same subject line, Gmail may combine them into a single long thread and clip the thread. This can make tests hard to review.
Important: This behavior typically affects the test thread, not the final email experience for employees who didn’t receive those tests.
How to prevent this:
-
Use a different subject line for each test
Even adding “v1”, “v2”, or a timestamp can help.
-
Send tests to different addresses
Workshop allows test sends to any individual address in your domain.
Rotate recipients so Gmail doesn’t stack your tests into one thread.
-
Check both desktop and mobile
Review your test on a computer and in the Gmail mobile app to ensure the full message renders as expected.
How Workshop warns you about potential Gmail clipping
Workshop helps ensure your emails are delivered cleanly and look great in employees’ inboxes. However, Gmail may clip (truncate) emails when the message is too large—typically replacing the bottom portion with a “View entire message” link.
To help you catch this before sending, Workshop will alert Gmail customers when we believe their email may be clipped:
In the test send modal: You’ll see an in-product alert that your email may clip in Gmail.
In the send confirmation modal: You’ll see an alert warning that your email may clip in Gmail, and recommending you send a test email first to verify nothing is being truncated.
If audience segmentation is applied: You’ll see a more specific alert explaining that segmentation may change the final email length, and that you should test send to users in each segment to confirm the segmented versions are not clipping.
Note: If you believe your email should show a clipping alert but you are not seeing one, please reach out to the Workshop support team. Be sure to let us know that you are a Gmail customer, as this alert is only applicable to Gmail and will only display for Gmail customers.
How to test when using audience segmentation
Audience segmentation can change the final content length (for example, different blocks, conditional content, personalized sections, or segment-specific modules). That means one test send may not reflect what everyone receives.
Best practice:
- Send test emails to specific users in each segment (or representative inboxes for each segment).
- Review each version in Gmail to confirm no segment-specific version clips.