Printed Emails Look Garbled or Show One Word/Character Per Line (Airmail for Mac)

If your emails print with the text broken up — for example showing only one word or one character per line, or with a scrambled layout — this is a display issue that can affect some HTML emails when printing from Airmail for Mac. Your messages and account data are safe; only the print output is affected.

Quick fixes to try

1. Update Airmail. Open the Mac App Store, go to Updates, and install the latest version of Airmail if one is available. We regularly release fixes, so this often resolves the problem.
2. Open the email in its own window first. Double-click the message to open it in a separate window, then choose File > Print. Printing from the single-message view is more reliable than printing from the conversation view.
3. Restart Airmail. Fully quit the app (Airmail > Quit Airmail) and reopen it, then try printing again.

Reliable workaround: Save as PDF

If the printout still looks garbled, you can produce a clean copy by saving the email as a PDF first:

1. Open the email and choose File > Print.
2. In the print dialog, click the PDF drop-down menu (bottom-left) and choose "Save as PDF".
3. Save the file, then open and print that PDF from the Preview app.

This usually produces correct formatting because the page is fully rendered before printing.

Why this happens

Airmail is a sandboxed app distributed through the Mac App Store. Certain complex HTML emails can be laid out incorrectly when sent to the printer, which makes the text wrap to a single word or character per line. The original email is not damaged, and the issue is limited to the printout.

Still seeing the problem?

If none of the steps above help, please contact us and include: your macOS version, your Airmail version (Airmail menu > About Airmail), the email provider, and, if possible, a screenshot of the garbled printout. This helps our team reproduce and fix the issue.

Updated on: 06/03/2026