Email too big: Gmail clips messages over 102 KB

What it means

Gmail shows only the first 102 KB of an email's HTML code. If your email is bigger, Gmail cuts it and adds a line at the bottom: "[Message clipped] View entire message". The reader must click to see the rest.

This limit is about the size of the code, not of the images. Images are loaded separately from the web and do not count, unless they are embedded in the email itself.

Why it matters

• Your footer is at the bottom, so it is often what gets cut: the unsubscribe link, your postal address and legal text.
• A reader who cannot find the unsubscribe link may click "Report spam" instead.
• Open tracking pixels are usually at the very end too, so clipped emails can look unopened in your statistics.
• Very heavy emails are slower to load on phones and look less professional.

How to check

• Send a test email: on the home page, copy your unique test address, send it a normal email from the mailbox or tool you want to check, then open the report. Look at the "Message text" section to see the content that was received.
• In Gmail, open the email and look for "[Message clipped]" at the bottom. You can also use "Show original" and "Download original" to see the full size of the file.
• Most newsletter tools show the size of an email before sending. Aim for well under 100 KB of HTML.

How to fix it

1. Shorten the email. Long newsletters with dozens of articles are the most common cause. Keep a few items and link to your website for the rest.
2. Clean the code. Email builders and copy-paste from Word or web pages add a lot of hidden code. Use your tool's built-in editor instead of pasting rich text.
3. Remove unused blocks. Hidden sections, empty rows and old template parts still count.
4. Do not embed images in the code. Images written directly into the HTML (starting with data:image) make the email huge. Host them on the web and link to them.
5. Shorten tracking links. Some tools rewrite every link with a very long tracking address. Fewer links means less code.
6. Avoid repeated styles. Some builders repeat the same style on every line. "Minify" or "compress HTML" options can help.

A safe layout

• One clear topic per email.
• A short footer with the unsubscribe link and address.
• A "Read more on our website" link instead of full articles.

Note about attachments

Attachments are a different matter: they do not cause clipping, but large ones are slow and can be blocked. Share big files with a download link instead.

Check that it is fixed

Send a new test email from the home page and check that the full message text arrives. Then send the email to a Gmail address and scroll to the bottom: the "[Message clipped]" line should be gone, and your unsubscribe link and footer should be visible.