# Adding Preheader Text to Emails

A preheader is the short preview text that appears next to the subject line in a recipient's inbox before they open the email. Engage Studio provides a dedicated **Pre-header** field so you no longer need to hand-edit HTML to control this text — without it, inbox providers often show unrelated content, such as unsubscribe text, in the preview instead. Set a Pre-header when you create an Email Template or Campaign, in either the Visual or HTML editor.

## Setting a Pre-header

The **Pre-header** field appears directly below the **Template subject** (or Campaign subject) field in both the Visual and HTML editors, alongside a persistent banner: "Pro-tip: Emails with pre-headers see a higher open rate."

![The Template Content Editor showing the Pre-header field below the Template subject field, with the Pro-tip banner and live character counter](/assets/email-preheader-text-2026-07-14-21-21-32.4c91307d9f2238bd6304a15c178e5b1dc952f953142c89ae82997b5fa2473786.5be018a0.webp)

* **Email Template**: Set a default Pre-header that new campaigns using the template inherit. Leaving the field empty is valid — no Pre-header is sent.
* **Campaign**: Inherits the Template's Pre-header by default. Entering any value in the Campaign field overrides the Template default for that campaign only, even if the value matches the Template's default.


## Character Limits and Personalization

A live counter (for example, `18/220 characters`) tracks length as you type, including any Liquid syntax:

* Above **90 characters**, the field notes that "Pre-headers longer than 90 characters will be truncated by most mail providers."
* Above **220 characters**, saving is blocked.


The Pre-header field supports [Liquid personalization](/products/marketing-cloud/engage-studio/channels/email/personalization-using-merge-tag-and-liquid-template) using the same syntax as the Subject field, for example `{{ profile.first_name }}`.

## How It's Delivered

At send time, Engage Studio renders the Pre-header and inserts it into the email as hidden text, so it appears in the inbox preview next to the subject line without showing in the email body. UTF-8 characters, including Japanese text and emoji, are fully supported.

![Gmail inbox list showing a delivered email's subject and Pre-header text displayed together as "rails 8 - This is Pre-Header"](/assets/email-preheader-text-2026-07-14-21-28-19.774f1d314af696e75951e1817a5b1962700da9cf234f7e32e72ecf9740ab3f73.5be018a0.webp)

## Troubleshooting

* **Save blocked at 220+ characters**: Shorten the Pre-header text to 220 characters or fewer.
* **Liquid syntax error on save**: Check that merge tags open with `{{` and close with `}}`, matching the syntax used in the Subject field.


## Next Steps

* [Creating an Email](/products/marketing-cloud/engage-studio/channels/email/engage-content-creation)
* [Personalization Using Merge Tag and Liquid Template](/products/marketing-cloud/engage-studio/channels/email/personalization-using-merge-tag-and-liquid-template)
* [Import HTML Templates into Engage Studio](/products/marketing-cloud/engage-studio/channels/email/import-html-templates-into-engage-studio)