Applies To: □ PoliteMail Desktop ■ PoliteMail Online ■ PMUA □ PoliteMail M365
Version: □ 5.0 □ 5.1 □ 5.2 ■ 5.3+
Beefree integration with PoliteMail is one of the key features with version 5.3, and while the experience is a very smooth one, there are some things that you should be aware of.
| Feature | Notes |
|---|---|
| Smart Attachments, Links | Available from version 5.35, you can access your Smart Attachments with the 'PoliteMail Content' bar that displays when selecting any text. |
| Images | Images are coming soon, but currently require you to find the url of the image. Refer to this article for a workaround. |
| Feedback, Open Visibility | Beefree adds all content from outside of Beefree to the bottom of your message. You'll then need to use the blue crosshairs button to move it to where you want. |
| Heat Map | Heatmaps are currently supported only with messages made via the PoliteMail Builder. |
| Folders | Folders in Beefree only hold images and so have more limited functionality compared to the PoliteMail Builder. |
| Export message as HTML | Available from v5.4, you need to save your Template first. Click the 'Templates' button. Find your saved Template and you'll see an 'Export' button. |
| Padding | Users of the desktop version of Outlook may notice the padding varies between it and the "new" Outlook. Beefree is an online application and as such will render better in the new Outlook, which is also online and uses the latest rendering engine. Outlook for the Desktop, unfortunately, is old, and it is a technical challenge to have perfect consistency among all platforms. Beefree discusses padding in one of their blog posts. |
| Rounded corners, backgrounds, background images, hover effects. | The desktop version of Outlook does not support these features. This is a known issue with Outlook, as shown in Beefree's documentation. |
Beefree Rendering in Outlook for the Desktop
Beefree templates generally work well on Outlook for Desktop, but users should expect some limitations and possible rendering issues, especially with complex layouts or responsive elements.
- Simple designs (single-column, web-safe fonts, basic formatting) are most compatible.
- Desktop Outlook does not support rounded corners of an image and will default to square corners. Users who want rounded corners will need to edit the image before uploading.
- Desktop Outlook does not support background images.
- Responsive features are less reliably supported on Outlook Desktop, since Outlook tends to strip out style tags and media queries crucial for mobile responsiveness.
- Complex layouts or advanced elements (multi-column, CSS-based styling, buttons with custom code) may not render as intended; Outlook can ignore, alter, or remove HTML elements including conditional comments, which affects appearance.
- While Beefree uses techniques like VML and conditional comments for Outlook compatibility, Outlook’s rendering quirks mean that results may still vary depending on the exact Outlook version.
- For best results, use Beefree’s preview and send test emails before finalizing, as the visual result in Outlook can differ from the Beefree editor.
