Overview
Every email template you build is layered on top of a set of default styles — your font, colour palette, spacing, button look, and so on. The Appearance tab is where you set those defaults once, then let everything you add inherit them automatically.
Think of it as setting the rules of the road for your template. Pick your widths, colours, fonts, and stripe styles up front, and the Content tab becomes a much simpler place to work — you're dropping in content, not fussing with formatting on every block.
You can always override individual elements as you go, but starting from a solid set of defaults saves time and keeps your communications looking consistent across the board.
Appearance vs. Content
The Appearance tab controls how things look by default. The Content tab is where you add and arrange the actual elements. Set your Appearance first, then build your content on top of it.
Open the Appearance tab
Inside the template editor, you'll see two tabs at the top: Appearance and Content. Click Appearance to start setting your defaults.
You'll see five sections, each one handling a different part of the template's look:
General Settings — the overall framework: width, font, padding, background.
Stripes — the horizontal bands that make up your layout (Header, Content, Footer, Info area).
Headings — defaults for H1, H2, and H3.
Button — the default look for buttons.
Mobile Formatting — overrides specifically for the mobile version of your template.
Click any section to expand it. We'll walk through each one in order below.
General Settings
This is your foundation. The choices you make here ripple through the rest of the template, so it's worth getting right before you move on.
- Click General Settings to expand the panel.
- Set your Message width. 600 pixels is the sweet spot for email and we'd recommend not going wider — anything beyond that risks awkward scrolling in some email clients.
- Choose your Message alignment (left, centre, or right). Centre is the most common choice for branded email.
- Toggle on Default padding and set the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom values. This padding will be applied to every new structure you add from the Content tab, so you don't have to set it manually each time.
- Pick your General background color using the colour picker. This is the colour that sits behind the whole email — the bit recipients see in the margins around your content.
- Choose your default Font from the dropdown. Stick to email-safe fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia to make sure everything renders consistently across email clients.
- Set Line spacing using the four options. Slightly more spacing tends to make longer copy easier to read on screens.
- Toggle Paragraph bottom space on or off depending on whether you want a default gap between paragraphs.
- Decide whether to Underline links. Underlines help links stand out and are good for accessibility, but some brands prefer a cleaner look.
- Leave Responsive design on. This makes sure your template adapts neatly to different screen sizes — you almost never want this off.
- Only switch on RTL text direction if you're sending in a right-to-left language like Arabic or Hebrew.
- Toggle on Background image if you want to use an image behind the email content instead of a solid colour.
Stripes
Stripes are the horizontal bands that make up your email's layout. There are four of them — Header, Content, Footer, and Info area — and each one has its own settings so you can give different parts of the email their own visual treatment.
Click Stripes to expand it, then click into each sub-panel one at a time.
Header
The header sits at the top of your email. Logos, top-line navigation, and brand identifiers usually live here.
- Set Text size for any text in the header.
- Choose your Background color — this is the colour behind the whole header strip. Leave it transparent if you want it to match the general background.
- Set Content background color — the colour sitting directly behind your header content (often white to keep your logo legible).
- Pick your Font color and Link color. Make sure both have enough contrast against the background.
- Toggle on Background image if you'd like to use an image behind the header instead of a flat colour.
Content
The content stripe is the main body of your email — where the bulk of your message lives.
- Set the default Text size for body content. 14 to 16 pixels is a comfortable reading size.
- Pick your Content background color — usually white or a very light colour to keep your message easy to read.
- Set Font color for body text. Aim for high contrast against the background (dark grey works better than pure black for most brands).
- Choose a Link color that's distinct from your body text so recipients can spot links at a glance.
Footer
The footer is where contact details, unsubscribe links, and any legal small print typically sit.
- Set the Text size for footer text. Footers usually run slightly smaller than body copy.
- Choose Background color and Content background color for the footer area.
- Set Font color and Link color. Footers often use a slightly muted colour palette to keep them visually secondary to the main message.
- Toggle on Background image if you want one behind your footer.
Info area
The info area sits below the footer and is usually reserved for the smallest text — things like unsubscribe links, address details, and other compliance bits.
- Set Text size. 11 or 12 pixels is typical here.
- Choose a subtle Font color and Link color. This area is meant to be present but unobtrusive, so a softer grey usually works well.
Headings
Headings help structure your message and guide the reader's eye. Setting the defaults here means every H1, H2, and H3 you drop into your content automatically picks up the right look.
- Click Headings to expand the panel.
- Pick a Font for your headings. You can match your body font for a clean look, or pick something distinct if your brand uses a separate heading typeface.
- Set Line spacing for your headings. A bit tighter than body text usually works well.
- For each of Heading H1, Heading H2, and Heading H3, set the font size, toggle bold (B) or italic (I), and pick a colour. A sensible default is to make each one progressively smaller so the hierarchy is clear at a glance.
Button
Buttons are how you drive action — "View statement", "Update details", "Read more". Setting your button styles here means every button you add inherits your brand look automatically.
- Click Button to expand the panel.
- Toggle Support of Outlook on if you know your recipients use Outlook a lot. This adds a special code element that makes buttons render properly in Outlook, but it does add to the email size — so weigh up whether you need it.
- Set your Button color using the colour picker. This is the fill colour of the button itself.
- Toggle Highlight hovered buttons on if you'd like buttons to change colour when a recipient hovers over them on desktop.
- Pick your Font color. White on a dark button is the classic combination, but go with whatever gives you strong contrast.
- Set your Text style — font, size, bold, and italic. Buttons usually look best with a slightly larger, bolder font than body text.
- Adjust Border radius to control how rounded the corners are. 0 gives you sharp corners, higher numbers give you progressively softer, pill-shaped buttons.
- Toggle Border on if you want a border around the button, then set the width, style, and colour for each side (Left, Right, Top, Bottom).
- Set Internal padding for Left, Right, Top, and Bottom. More padding gives you a chunkier, more clickable button.
Mobile Formatting
What looks great on a desktop screen can feel cramped on a phone. The Mobile Formatting section lets you fine-tune sizes specifically for the mobile version of your email.
Good to know
These settings only apply in email clients that support media queries (most modern mobile clients do, but a handful of older ones don't). Treat mobile formatting as a polish layer on top of your main defaults rather than a guarantee.
- Click Mobile Formatting to expand the panel.
- Set text sizes for each stripe area on mobile: Size of Header text, Size of the Content text, Size of Footer text, and Size of Info area text. Bumping these up by a point or two helps with readability on small screens.
- Set the "Menu" items font size for any navigation-style menu items.
- For each of Heading H1, Heading H2, and Heading H3, set the mobile font size and alignment. Headings often need to scale down slightly so they don't dominate the smaller screen.
- Set the Button text size for mobile.
- Toggle on Full-width buttons if you'd like buttons to stretch across the full width of the mobile screen. This makes them easier to tap. Set the Top and Bottom spacing too if you turn this on.
- Toggle on Content margin if you want to override the default content margins on mobile, then set the value with All.
What's next
That's the Appearance tab covered. Your template now has a complete set of default styles to work from, so anything you add through the Content tab will inherit the right look automatically.
Head to the Content tab next to start building your email — adding stripes, dropping in text and images, and arranging your buttons and links. Because you've already set the defaults, you can focus on the message rather than the formatting.