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Change the background color of an individual block or single row in an email

Article: 000016380
Updated: March 17, 2025

Make a block or a prebuilt layout stand out in your template by changing its background color

A pop of color can help content stand out from the rest of your email. It's a great way to highlight your key points or call-to-action using your brand colors!

 

Light Bulb IconDesign tip: Your template uses blocks, layouts, and sections to help organize your content. The way you group your content together helps you to determine how to use color to organize your points and highlight your 

 


Change a block's background color using the Row menu

To change the background color of a single block, it must be in its own row—each row has its own menu that you can use to change colors independently of the global template colors you set from the Design tab.

  1. Place your cursor over the block you want to change and click the three dots ( . . . ) at the bottom of the Row menu
  2. Click the paint can icon.
  3. Choose a color from the Basic palette, choose from your Recent or Saved colors, or click Advanced to add a specific HEX value. Placing your cursor over a color lets you preview it before you click to select it.

    Block with menu expanded, gear icon selected, paint can icon selected, and basic color palette expanded with Advanced button
     

When you use the Row menu to change the background color, the row becomes unresponsive to background color changes made from the Design tab. If you change the color of an individual block and later move it into a layout, it takes on the color of the layout.

 

Light Bulb IconDesign tip: Create a simple border around an image by resizing the image to be smaller than the block, allowing the background color to show as the border. You may need to adjust the image padding or crop the image to get the right ratio.

 

Change a layout's background color using the Row menu

 

A layout is a group of individual blocks from the top of the Build tab combined into their own row. You can drag a Layout into your template, which groups the blocks together for you, or you can build your own layout. The Design tab lets you control the background colors throughout your template, but you can always change the background color of a layout using the Row menu. Keep in mind that when you use the Row menu to change the background color, the row becomes unresponsive to future background color changes made from the Design tab.

  1. Place your cursor over the layout you want to change and click the three dots ( . . . ) at the bottom of the Row menu
  2. Click the paint can icon.
  3. Choose a color from the Basic palette, choose from your Recent or Saved colors, or click Advanced to add a specific HEX value. Placing your cursor over a color lets you preview it before you click to select it.

    Design tab, Backgrounds and Borders section, and Feature Layout Background color swatch with Basic color picker expanded
     

 

Light Bulb IconDesign tip: Depending on the template you're working in, some Layouts may contain a border or other design element that can't be removed. If you don't want them, recreate the layout by dragging Text, Image, and Headline blocks into your email.

 

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