Outlook 2007/2010 - Inserting table into autoshape leaves extra space

((Directed to this forum by a Microsoft Support Engineer for this question)) In Outlook 2007/2010, inserting a table into an autoshape (such as a textbox) is causing a space to appear after the table within the autoshape.  When formatting marks are turned on, you can see it's a paragraph mark, but there's no way to delete it. For this problem, specifying an exact height can't be used, as the autoshape text box is set to "resize shape to fit text".  Also, changing the font size of the paragraph mark doesn't eliminate the space completely. Looking for anyone who may know a workaround to remove the extra space.  (An mso style, VML setting, etc.) HERE ARE THE STEPS TO RECREATE THE ISSUE: 1.) Start with a new email, go to "Insert", click on "Shapes", select the first "basic shape" (The one with the letter "A" in it), and draw a large box. 2.) Now right click on the autoshape, go to "Format Shape", select "Text Box", check Resize shape to fit text, and set all internal margins to 0. 3.) Click inside the autoshape, go to "Insert", click on "Table", and create a 3x1 table. You'll now have a single row, three column table inside the autoshape. The issue, however, is that there's a space below the table inside the autoshape.  It can't be deleted.  It can only be removed by highlighting the space, right clicking, going into "Font", and selecting "Hidden". This presents an issue for those coding custom HTML emails, as there's no way to select that space and make it hidden while coding from the ground up.  Outlook automatically adds the space after the table (within an autoshape) in a freshly coded email. -------------------------- Background on the method being used: If you're wondering why this is being done, it's used as a vertically flexible background image solution for Campaign Monitor & MailChimp email templates.  I originally came up with a fixed background image solution using Word's VML coding.  (Link here [http://www.campaignmonitor.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=3862])  Fixed vertical heights are not preferred for editable templates since the amount of content can vary. The original Outlook 2007/2010 background image fix/solution involved a fixed VML image (v:image) along with a fixed VML shape (v:shape) absolute positioned inside a table cell.  It worked perfectly, and as you can see the thread has over 80,000 views.  It still didn't solve the problem of vertically flexibility, as it required a set height & width. The latest solution (and the original problem posted) involves using a VML rectangle shape (v:rect) with a (v:fill), and a (v:textbox) with a style set to "mso-fit-shape-to-text:true".  This solved the vertical flexibility issue, but that space after the nested table (which is used for positioning) is causing problems since other email clients don't show that space. Consistency across email clients is the goal - and getting rid of that space below the table would solve it. Thank you, Brian