diff --git a/server/src/emails/album-invite.email.tsx b/server/src/emails/album-invite.email.tsx
index 49adb25e5..e82e2ec79 100644
--- a/server/src/emails/album-invite.email.tsx
+++ b/server/src/emails/album-invite.email.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import * as React from 'react';
 import { ImmichButton } from 'src/emails/components/button.component.js';
 import ImmichLayout from 'src/emails/components/immich.layout.js';
 import { AlbumInviteEmailProps } from 'src/repositories/email.repository.js';
-import { replaceTemplateTags } from 'src/utils/replace-template-tags.js';
+import { replaceTemplateTags, templatePreview } from 'src/utils/replace-template-tags.js';
 
 export const AlbumInviteEmail = ({
   baseUrl,
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ export const AlbumInviteEmail = ({
   );
 
   return (
-    <ImmichLayout preview={customTemplate ? emailContent.toString() : 'You have been added to a shared album.'}>
+    <ImmichLayout
+      preview={customTemplate ? templatePreview(customTemplate, variables) : 'You have been added to a shared album.'}
+    >
       {customTemplate && (
         <Text className="m-0">
           <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: emailContent }}></div>
diff --git a/server/src/emails/album-update.email.tsx b/server/src/emails/album-update.email.tsx
index 443e54228..fea374149 100644
--- a/server/src/emails/album-update.email.tsx
+++ b/server/src/emails/album-update.email.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import * as React from 'react';
 import { ImmichButton } from 'src/emails/components/button.component.js';
 import ImmichLayout from 'src/emails/components/immich.layout.js';
 import { AlbumUpdateEmailProps } from 'src/repositories/email.repository.js';
-import { replaceTemplateTags } from 'src/utils/replace-template-tags.js';
+import { replaceTemplateTags, templatePreview } from 'src/utils/replace-template-tags.js';
 
 export const AlbumUpdateEmail = ({
   baseUrl,
@@ -36,7 +36,13 @@ export const AlbumUpdateEmail = ({
   );
 
   return (
-    <ImmichLayout preview={customTemplate ? emailContent.toString() : 'New media has been added to a shared album.'}>
+    <ImmichLayout
+      preview={
+        customTemplate
+          ? templatePreview(customTemplate, usableTemplateVariables)
+          : 'New media has been added to a shared album.'
+      }
+    >
       {customTemplate && (
         <Text className="m-0">
           <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: emailContent }}></div>
diff --git a/server/src/emails/welcome.email.tsx b/server/src/emails/welcome.email.tsx
index 2de52b0c8..ab026fd39 100644
--- a/server/src/emails/welcome.email.tsx
+++ b/server/src/emails/welcome.email.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import * as React from 'react';
 import { ImmichButton } from 'src/emails/components/button.component.js';
 import ImmichLayout from 'src/emails/components/immich.layout.js';
 import { WelcomeEmailProps } from 'src/repositories/email.repository.js';
-import { replaceTemplateTags } from 'src/utils/replace-template-tags.js';
+import { replaceTemplateTags, templatePreview } from 'src/utils/replace-template-tags.js';
 
 export const WelcomeEmail = ({ baseUrl, displayName, username, password, customTemplate }: WelcomeEmailProps) => {
   const usableTemplateVariables = {
@@ -37,7 +37,11 @@ export const WelcomeEmail = ({ baseUrl, displayName, username, password, customT
 
   return (
     <ImmichLayout
-      preview={customTemplate ? emailContent.toString() : 'You have been invited to a new Immich instance.'}
+      preview={
+        customTemplate
+          ? templatePreview(customTemplate, usableTemplateVariables)
+          : 'You have been invited to a new Immich instance.'
+      }
     >
       {customTemplate && (
         <Text className="m-0">
diff --git a/server/src/repositories/email.repository.spec.ts b/server/src/repositories/email.repository.spec.ts
index e9d7e4dee..fe54042e0 100644
--- a/server/src/repositories/email.repository.spec.ts
+++ b/server/src/repositories/email.repository.spec.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,28 @@ describe(EmailRepository.name, () => {
       expect(result.text).toContain('Vacation');
     });
 
+    it('should escape user controlled values in a custom template', async () => {
+      const request: EmailRenderRequest = {
+        template: EmailTemplate.ALBUM_INVITE,
+        data: {
+          albumName: '</p><a href="https://example.com">Reset your password</a><p>',
+          albumId: '123',
+          senderName: '<script>alert(1)</script>',
+          recipientName: "Tom & Jerry O'Brien",
+          baseUrl: 'http://localhost',
+        },
+        customTemplate: '<p>Hey {recipientName}, {senderName} added you to {albumName}</p>',
+      };
+
+      const result = await sut.renderEmail(request);
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain('&lt;script&gt;alert(1)&lt;/script&gt;');
+      expect(result.html).toContain('&lt;a href=&quot;https://example.com&quot;&gt;');
+      expect(result.html).not.toContain('<script>alert(1)</script>');
+      expect(result.html).not.toContain('<a href="https://example.com">');
+      expect(result.html).toContain('<p>Hey Tom &amp; Jerry O&#39;Brien');
+    });
+
     it('should render the email correctly for ALBUM_UPDATE template', async () => {
       const request: EmailRenderRequest = {
         template: EmailTemplate.ALBUM_UPDATE,
diff --git a/server/src/utils/replace-template-tags.spec.ts b/server/src/utils/replace-template-tags.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b3c800ada
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/utils/replace-template-tags.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import { replaceTemplateTags, templatePreview } from 'src/utils/replace-template-tags.js';
+
+describe(replaceTemplateTags.name, () => {
+  it('should replace tags', () => {
+    expect(replaceTemplateTags('Hello {name}, welcome to {instance}', { name: 'Alan', instance: 'Immich' })).toBe(
+      'Hello Alan, welcome to Immich',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('should leave unknown tags untouched', () => {
+    expect(replaceTemplateTags('Hello {name} {unknown}', { name: 'Alan' })).toBe('Hello Alan {unknown}');
+  });
+
+  it('should escape html in values', () => {
+    expect(
+      replaceTemplateTags('<p>{name} shared {album}</p>', {
+        name: '<img src=x onerror="alert(1)">',
+        album: '</p><a href="https://example.com">x</a><p>',
+      }),
+    ).toBe(
+      '<p>&lt;img src=x onerror=&quot;alert(1)&quot;&gt; shared &lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://example.com&quot;&gt;x&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;</p>',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('should not escape html when disabled', () => {
+    expect(replaceTemplateTags('{name}', { name: '<b>Alan</b>' }, { escapeHtml: false })).toBe('<b>Alan</b>');
+  });
+});
+
+describe(templatePreview.name, () => {
+  it('should produce plain text with unescaped values', () => {
+    expect(templatePreview('<p>Hey <strong>{name}</strong>!</p>', { name: "Tom & Jerry O'Brien" })).toBe(
+      "Hey Tom & Jerry O'Brien!",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('should strip tags that came from values', () => {
+    expect(templatePreview('<p>{name}</p>', { name: '<a href="https://example.com">click</a>' })).toBe('click');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/server/src/utils/replace-template-tags.ts b/server/src/utils/replace-template-tags.ts
index 70333d7df..255a7f155 100644
--- a/server/src/utils/replace-template-tags.ts
+++ b/server/src/utils/replace-template-tags.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,25 @@
-export const replaceTemplateTags = (template: string, variables: Record<string, string | undefined>) => {
+import { escape } from 'lodash-es';
+
+export const replaceTemplateTags = (
+  template: string,
+  variables: Record<string, string | undefined>,
+  { escapeHtml = true } = {},
+) => {
   return template.replaceAll(/{(.*?)}/g, (_, key) => {
-    return variables[key] || `{${key}}`;
+    const value = variables[key];
+    if (!value) {
+      return `{${key}}`;
+    }
+    return escapeHtml ? escape(value) : value;
   });
 };
+
+export const templatePreview = (template: string, variables: Record<string, string | undefined>) => {
+  let text = replaceTemplateTags(template, variables, { escapeHtml: false });
+  let previous: string;
+  do {
+    previous = text;
+    text = text.replaceAll(/<[^>]*>/g, '');
+  } while (text !== previous);
+  return text;
+};