Previewing an Email Design

Before exporting your email, the Preview feature lets you see exactly how your design will render as HTML — on desktop, across multiple mobile devices, and in dark mode. This is your chance to catch layout issues, font fallbacks, and spacing problems before they reach real inboxes.

The preview panel includes a device selector that lets you see your email at different screen widths. Available devices include:

Select any device from the list and the preview will resize to match that device’s screen width. This is especially useful for checking how multi-column layouts stack on narrow screens and whether your text is readable at smaller widths.

Click the Dark button in the top-right corner of the preview window to switch between light and dark mode previews. This shows how your email will render on Apple devices (iOS and macOS) with dark mode enabled.

If you’ve set custom dark mode colors in the Appearance tab, this is where you’ll see them applied. Toggle between Light and Dark to make sure both versions look intentional and readable.

At the bottom of the preview window, you’ll find a Show Fallback Fonts toggle. Enable this to see how your email looks with web-safe fallback fonts instead of your custom or Google fonts.

Since most email clients (except Apple Mail) will display fallback fonts, this gives you a realistic view of what the majority of your subscribers will actually see. Check that your layout doesn’t break when font metrics change — fallback fonts often have different character widths and line heights.

Here’s a checklist of things to look for before exporting:

Layout and structure: Do all sections, columns, and content elements appear in the correct order? Do multi-column layouts stack properly on mobile device previews?

Text readability: Is body text large enough to read comfortably, especially on smaller devices? Are line heights adequate? Does text get cut off or overflow its container?

Image sizing: Do images scale down properly on mobile? Are they the right proportions? Check that images aren’t stretching or getting cropped unexpectedly.

Button tap targets: On mobile previews, make sure buttons are large enough to tap comfortably. A good minimum is 44px height.

Spacing and padding: Does padding look appropriate at each device width? Are there any sections that feel too cramped or too spacious?

Dark mode colors: Toggle dark mode and verify that text remains readable against dark backgrounds, images with transparent backgrounds still look good, and your brand colors translate well.

Font fallbacks: Toggle fallback fonts and check that the layout doesn’t shift dramatically. Different fonts have different widths, which can push text to new lines or change the visual weight of headings.

The plugin’s preview gives you a highly accurate representation of how your email will look, but it’s important to understand its scope:

What the preview shows accurately: HTML rendering, responsive behavior at different widths, dark mode on Apple devices, font fallback appearance, padding and spacing, image scaling.

What varies in real email clients: Outlook (Windows) uses a completely different rendering engine (Microsoft Word) and may display differences in spacing, font rendering, and corner radius support. Gmail may clip emails over 102KB. Some clients strip certain CSS properties.

For high-stakes emails (product launches, major campaigns), we recommend supplementing the plugin preview with a dedicated email testing service like Litmus or Email on Acid for full cross-client rendering tests.

Once you’re satisfied with how your email looks across devices and in both light and dark mode, click the Export button at the bottom of the preview window. This takes you to the export panel where you can generate HTML, MJML, or send directly to your ESP.

"The preview looks different from my Figma design"

This is expected in some cases. Figma renders designs using modern browser technology, while email HTML uses table-based layouts with inline CSS. Small differences in spacing and text rendering are normal. Focus on whether the email looks good rather than whether it's pixel-identical to your Figma file.

"My preview is blank or loading slowly"

Make sure you’ve selected a valid email frame before clicking Preview. If the preview is slow, your email may have very large images — try reducing image file sizes.

"Dark mode preview doesn’t look right"

Check that you’ve set dark mode colors in the Appearance tab. If you haven’t specified dark mode colors, the preview will show the default light colors, which may look washed out or unreadable on a dark background.

Need help with your preview? Reach out to support@emaillove.com.