# Summary email needs a width limit

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/summary-email-needs-a-width-limit/202483
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [September 2, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/summary-email-needs-a-width-limit/202483 "2021-09-02T19:19:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Falco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/falco/32/179432_2.png) [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/summary-email-needs-a-width-limit/202483/1 "2021-09-02T19:19:49Z")

</div>

Looks like we are missing a max-width on the email summary post content:

Current:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/8/1/8125291372bbfec5e42c7a10dc0cc8f5d3ef4549.png)

With 700px max-width:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/9/6/966daa17dd55c4e9d2abcdec5b816d5a0478f428.png)

Thanks @pepa for the heads up!

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![simon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/simon/32/339122_2.png) [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/summary-email-needs-a-width-limit/202483/3 "2021-09-03T01:53:10Z")

</div>

There’s a code example here that constrains the width of emails sent from Discourse: [Customizing the Discourse outer email template](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customize-and-style-the-discourse-outer-email-template/153637). I’ve tested it on Litmus and seen issues on some email clients when it’s used as the outer wrapper for the summary email. I’m fairly sure those issues can be resolved.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![awesomerobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/awesomerobot/32/142900_2.png) [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/summary-email-needs-a-width-limit/202483/4 "2022-10-03T16:57:04Z")

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I’ve restricted the width and centered the email content here:

[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/a5fbdba9d46232922f299ba18806b368d6c1da2b](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/a5fbdba9d46232922f299ba18806b368d6c1da2b)

From a test send:

 ![Screen Shot 2022-10-03 at 12.51.53 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/d/0/9/d096d4ebdd8d2b3b956e76ebfcd8f19f20a16c3d.png)

I’ve used tables to restrict the width and center which should ensure it works with older email clients:

```xml
<table>
  <tr>
    <td></td>
    <td width="650"> all email content within this td </td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
</table>

```

Note that a width set on a `td` functions more like a `max-width`, and content will still shrink to fit smaller devices.