Does Outlook support GIFs? That depends on the version in which your animation is opened. Outlook and its lack of support for animated GIFs has long-been a sore point for many designers.
While the newer versions of Outlook now have GIF support, the older Windows desktop versions (2007-2016) will still only render the first frame of an animated GIF.
If your GIF includes a call-to-action or any information that is vital to the email’s messaging, you should always try to include it in the first frame. If that isn’t possible you can always to show a GIF in most email clients, but hide it and show a static fallback image in Outlook.
3. CSS background images not supported.
A while back Microsoft added , but we still lack support for these in most desktop versions of Outlook, and we don’t anticipate this being changed any time soon.
If you want your background images to work on Outlook 2016 and other older desktop versions you’ll need to dive into the world of
VML will allow you to get those beautiful background images working on Outlook but will add a layer of complexity to your email coding process. Ultimately, each email is different and often your email designs will still work without your background images loading, it’s down to you to decide if the extra effort of VML is worth if for your specific needs.
4. Outlook ignores margin and padding.
One of the persistent challenges faced by email developers when coding for Outlook is its tendency to ignore margin and padding properties.
