Gmail for Android (before version 13) has some bugs when rendering HTML emails, and here's how to fix them.

Fixing Padding Issues

Gmail's older versions tend to ignore padding applied via style. The best workaround is using table-based layouts instead of <div> and applying cellpadding or td padding.

Example Fix Using <table>

<table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" border="0">
  <tr>
    <td align="left" style="padding: 15px; background-color: #f4f4f4;">
      This is a test email.
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

✅ Using cellpadding="10" ensures padding works in Gmail.

Fixing Text Alignment Issues

Older Gmail versions may ignore text-align in <div>. The fix? Use table-based alignment.

Example Fix Using <table>

<table role="presentation" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
  <tr>
    <td align="center" style="text-align: center; font-size: 16px;">
      <p style="margin: 0;">Centered Text in Gmail</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

✅ align="center" ensures proper alignment in older Gmail versions.

Force Gmail to Respect Styles with !important

Some styles may get stripped, so use:

<p style="padding: 20px !important; text-align: center !important;">
  Forced padding and alignment
</p>