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Supported email modules

Which HubSpot drag-and-drop email modules work in a template, which don't, and how to fix an incompatible one.

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

HubSpot doesn’t offer a way for apps to render its emails, so Transactional Email renders templates itself from the modules in the email. It supports HubSpot’s standard drag-and-drop email modules. Anything else makes the template incompatible: once it’s been checked (when you select it in the workflow action), Settings → Templates shows it as Incompatible with the reasons, the Email template dropdown marks it incompatible, and sends that use it fail with template_incompatible.

Supported modules

Section titled “Supported modules”
Module Notes
Rich text Text, headings, lists, links, and tokens. Links must start with http://, https://, mailto:, or tel:.
Text Plain text blocks.
Image Including linked images. Add alt text — it’s shown when images are blocked.
Button Rendered so it works in every major email client.
Divider and Spacer
Sections and columns The drag-and-drop layout: one or more columns per section.
Header and Footer Unsubscribe, subscription-preference, and “view in browser” links and the company address HubSpot fills in from your account settings are removed.

Your email’s background color and fonts carry over from the editor’s style settings. Every email also gets a plain-text version automatically.

What makes a template incompatible

Section titled “What makes a template incompatible”
  • Custom modules and modules installed from the HubSpot Marketplace.
  • Any module that isn’t in the table above.
  • Smart content (content that changes by list or lifecycle stage).
  • A/B test emails.
  • HTML with scripts, forms, or external style sheets, for example pasted into a rich text module’s source code.
  • HubL logic such as {% if %} blocks or loops. Plain tokens like {{ contact.firstname }} are fine.
  • Links that aren’t web, email, or phone links — for example javascript: or relative links — and images that aren’t loaded over http:// or https://.
  • No subject line.
  • Too large: emails over 100 KB of HTML once rendered.
  • Deleted emails: a template deleted in HubSpot stops working in every workflow that uses it.

Fix an incompatible template

Section titled “Fix an incompatible template”
  1. Open the email in HubSpot and find the unsupported module or setting.
  2. Replace it. Swap a custom module for rich text, an image, or a button; turn off smart content or A/B testing; trim very long content.
  3. Save the email.
  4. Refresh the template. A Super Admin can click Refresh in Settings → Templates, or you can wait about 15 minutes for Transactional Email to pick up the change. See Refreshing a template after editing.

The template no longer shows as incompatible, and new sends go out.

Things to know

Section titled “Things to know”
  • No unsubscribe footer. Transactional email isn’t marketing, so unsubscribe and subscription-preference links are removed rather than sent broken. Add your company address or legal text in a rich text module if you want it in the email.
  • When in doubt, it fails safe. If Transactional Email can’t tell whether it can render something correctly, it marks the template incompatible rather than sending a broken email.
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