What This Update Actually Is
HubSpot shipped native section-level design controls for the drag-and-drop email editor. You can now set a corner radius and apply borders (weight, color, and side) directly on any section, without writing a single line of CSS.
As part of this release, the boxed layout option in the Template Design tab has been removed. HubSpot is migrating existing emails automatically, and a guided flow walks you through it the first time you open an affected email.
Two important caveats to know upfront: left and right section margins are not included in this release, and Classic Outlook on Windows doesn't support CSS border-radius. In those clients, sections show square corners with no other layout breakage.
Why HubSpot Shipped This
Here's the pattern we see constantly in portals: a marketing team puts serious effort into brand consistency on their website, and then their emails look like a completely different company sent them.
Getting rounded sections or defined visual containers in HubSpot emails used to require one of three workarounds: custom HTML, image-based backgrounds that break on mobile, or accepting a design that didn't quite match the brand. None of those are great options for a lean marketing team.
The boxed layout option tried to solve this, but it was blunt. It applied a container to the whole template, not individual sections. Humans who needed more granular control were stuck. These new controls give section-by-section flexibility, which is how modern email design actually works.
How to Use It Step by Step
Follow these steps to apply rounded corners and borders to a section in your email:
- In your HubSpot account, go to Marketing, then Marketing Email.
- Open a drafted drag-and-drop email or click Create email in the top right.
- Click a section in the Email Editor to select it.
- In the left sidebar, navigate to Section Styles.
- To add rounded corners: under Corner Radius, enter your desired rounding value. Each section holds its own value independently.
- To add a border: under Border, set the weight and color, then choose which sides to apply (top, bottom, left, right, or all sides).
- To recreate the old boxed layout look: apply a border to all sides, then set a corner radius if you want rounded edges on that container.
If you open an existing email that used boxed layout, a short guided migration flow will appear. Your content is fully preserved. Only the layout structure is updated to the new section-based approach.
What It Touches in Your HubSpot Strategy
At first glance this looks like a visual tweak. It's actually a brand consistency lever that ripples further than the email editor.
Email templates are foundational assets. If your team uses a shared master template, this update means a one-time audit of that template to remove any boxed layout dependency and rebuild those sections with native controls. Done once, it pays forward to every campaign that inherits the template.
Key Takeaway
Corner radius values don't inherit across sections or from the template level. Set them per section. This gives you more control, but it also means a template audit is worth doing before your next send.
For teams running nurture sequences or automated workflow emails, the visual experience now stays consistent from first touch to close without depending on a developer. That's a meaningful time saving when campaigns move fast.
If you're already working on email performance improvements, this pairs well with the foundational principles covered in B2B email quick wins for 2026. Design quality and deliverability aren't the same thing, but they both affect whether humans engage with what you send.
There's also a reporting angle here. If your team has been blaming low click rates on copy, it's worth running an A/B test on a section with a clear bordered CTA area versus your old flat layout. Structured visual hierarchy consistently improves engagement in email, and now you can test it natively.
Design improvements only pay off when the list underneath them is healthy. If you haven't audited your segmentation and list quality recently, our guide on building a B2B email list that actually converts is a good companion read.
Key Takeaway
Classic Outlook on Windows will render square corners instead of rounded ones, with no other layout breakage. Test in your most common client environments before rolling out a corner-radius-heavy template to your full list.
What This Does Not Replace
This update covers sections in the drag-and-drop editor. It doesn't apply to individual content modules like buttons or image blocks. Left and right section margins are also not included in this release. If you need full padding control on all four sides, that's still a custom code scenario for now.
Who Should Care Most
This update has the highest immediate value for these groups:
- Marketing teams at growth-stage companies who own their email design but don't have a developer on call. You can now match your website's visual language in the editor itself.
- HubSpot admins and template owners who maintain a shared master email template. This is the moment to audit and modernize that template so every sender in the portal benefits.
- Brand-conscious marketing directors at companies where visual consistency across channels is a real priority. Humans in this role have been asking for this kind of native control for a long time.
- RevOps and marketing ops professionals managing email templates at scale across multiple business units or product lines. Per-section control means you can differentiate layouts without forking your entire template library.
If your company is on any hub or tier, this is available to you right now. There's no tier gate on this release.
George's Take
I've audited a lot of HubSpot portals, and the gap between a company's website design and their email design is one of the most common brand consistency failures I see. It's not because humans don't care. It's because the tooling made it hard to care without a developer. This update removes that friction. It won't write better copy for you, and it won't fix a weak offer, but it does mean the design layer of your email program can finally flourish without a ticket queue standing in the way. Start with your master template. Audit it now, before your next send, and get your section styles locked in.
“The gap between your website design and your email design is a brand trust problem. HubSpot just gave every marketer the tool to close it, no code required.”
If you want help auditing your email templates, modernizing your HubSpot setup, or building a design system that scales across your whole portal, let's talk. Book a strategy call with the Sidekick team and we'll show you exactly where your setup can flourish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do HubSpot rounded corner settings apply to all email sections at once?
No. Corner radius is set at the individual section level. Each section can have its own value, and sections don't inherit corner radius from each other or from the template. This gives you granular control but means you'll need to set values deliberately for each section you want to style.
What happens to emails that used the old HubSpot boxed layout?
HubSpot migrates them automatically. The first time you open an email built with boxed layout, a short guided flow explains what changed. Your content is fully preserved. Only the layout structure updates to the new section-based approach. You can then use the new border and corner radius controls to recreate the boxed look.
Will rounded corners display correctly in all email clients?
Most modern email clients support CSS border-radius and will render rounded corners correctly. Classic Outlook on Windows is the main exception. In those clients, sections display with square corners instead. No other layout breakage occurs, so the email is still readable and functional.
Can I add borders to individual sides of an email section in HubSpot?
Yes. The new border controls let you choose which sides to apply a border to: top, bottom, left, right, or all sides. You set the border weight and color independently. This gives you far more layout flexibility than the old boxed layout option, which applied a container to the full template.
Is the rounded corners feature available on HubSpot Starter and Free tiers?
Yes. HubSpot confirmed this update is available across all hubs and all tiers. There's no paid tier gate. Any account with access to the drag-and-drop email editor can apply corner radius and section borders using the steps in the Section Styles panel.
Do I need to be a developer to use the new HubSpot email border controls?
No. These controls are fully native to the drag-and-drop email editor. You select a section, navigate to Section Styles in the left sidebar, and set your values with clicks. No HTML, CSS, or custom code is needed for the corner radius or border features.
