If your email looks wider than your content width setting in the ContactMonkey preview, a long URL pasted directly into your email content is likely the cause. This article explains why it happens and how to fix it in a few quick steps.
Why This Happens
When you paste a raw URL directly into a text-based content block — for example, https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/internal/Shared%20Documents/... — some versions of Outlook cannot break that link across multiple lines. Instead, Outlook keeps the entire URL on a single line and
widens the email container to fit it. This makes your email appear wider than the content width you configured in the Email Builder settings, even though the setting itself is correct.
This issue affects raw, plain-text URLs only. It does not affect URLs that are attached to clickable text (hyperlinks).
How to Fix It: Replace the URL With a Hyperlink
Instead of displaying the full URL in your email, attach the link to a short, descriptive word or phrase. This prevents Outlook from needing to render the full URL as one unbreakable line.
Example: Instead of pasting https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/internal/updates/form?id=12345 directly into your email, write "complete the form here" and attach the URL to that text as a hyperlink.
How to Prevent This in Future Emails
Always add links as hyperlinks attached to anchor text rather than pasting raw URLs directly into your email content. This keeps your layout clean, prevents width issues across all email clients, and makes your email easier to read.
If you need to share a URL that recipients must type manually (rather than click), consider using a URL shortener such as Bitly to reduce its length before pasting it as plain text.