align-items
CSS property · 12 supported, 0 partial, 9 unsupported across 21 clients
12 of 21 email clients render align-items fully (Sep 2, 2026 data); it breaks outright in Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS and 6 more.
- 4/7 webmail, 4/6 desktop, 4/8 mobile clients support align-items fully.
- Unsupported in Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Outlook (New) and 5 more.
- Outlook Classic (Word engine, supported to at least 2029) does not fully support align-items, and its replacement changes little here; see the deprecation diff.
- Across all clients, only 6 of 298 tracked HTML/CSS features render identically everywhere.
Source: caniemail.com (MIT), via the Emailens engine. Last tested upstream Dec 19, 2023, synced by Emailens Sep 2, 2026.
align-items controls cross-axis alignment of flex items. Because flexbox itself is largely unsupported in email , Outlook ignores it, Gmail strips it , align-items has equally narrow practical usefulness. Modern Apple Mail and Superhuman support it, making it a niche progressive-enhancement tool.
Client Support
| Client | Category | Engine | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gmail | webmail | Gmail Web | Unsupported |
| Gmail Android | mobile | Gmail Mobile | Unsupported |
| Gmail iOS | mobile | Gmail Mobile | Unsupported |
| Outlook 365 | webmail | Outlook Web | Supported |
| Outlook (New) | desktop | Outlook Web | Unsupported |
| Outlook Classic | desktop | Microsoft Word | Unsupported |
| Outlook iOS | mobile | Outlook Mobile | Supported |
| Outlook Android | mobile | Outlook Mobile | Supported |
| Outlook for Mac | desktop | WebKit | Supported |
| Apple Mail | desktop | WebKit | Supported |
| Apple Mail iOS | mobile | WebKit | Supported |
| Yahoo Mail | webmail | Yahoo | Unsupported |
| Yahoo Mail Android | mobile | Yahoo | Unsupported |
| Yahoo Mail iOS | mobile | Yahoo | Unsupported |
| Samsung Mail | mobile | Samsung | Supported |
| Thunderbird | desktop | Gecko | Supported |
| HEY Mail | webmail | WebKit | Supported |
| Proton Mail | webmail | Proton | Supported |
| AOL Mail | webmail | AOL | Unsupported |
| Fastmail | webmail | Fastmail | Supported |
| Superhuman | desktop | Blink | Supported |
Client-by-client behaviour for align-items
Fully supports align-items (12): Outlook 365, Outlook iOS, Outlook Android, Outlook for Mac, Apple Mail, Apple Mail iOS, Samsung Mail, Thunderbird, HEY Mail, Proton Mail, Fastmail, Superhuman.
No support (9): Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, AOL Mail. Plan fallbacks for these clients before relying on align-items in production sends.
When to use align-items in email
- Vertically aligning side-by-side columns in Apple-Mail-targeted layouts.
- Centering a logo with adjacent text in a flex header.
- Controlled alignment in modern-client-only designs that fall back to tables elsewhere.
Rendering behaviour and edge cases
- Outlook on Windows ignores all flexbox properties including align-items.
- Gmail's sanitizer strips display: flex, neutralizing any align-items declaration.
- Apple Mail and Superhuman honor align-items reliably when display: flex is also present.
Recommended fallback strategy
Always provide a table-based fallback for any flex layout. Use align-items only where the audience is known to skew toward modern WebKit-based clients. Inside <!--[if mso]> conditionals, supply a table layout with valign attributes for vertical alignment.
Fixes & Workarounds
Gmail
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Gmail Android
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Gmail iOS
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Outlook (New)
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Outlook Classic
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Yahoo Mail
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Yahoo Mail Android
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Yahoo Mail iOS
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
AOL Mail
Unsupported"align-items" is not supported in this email client.
Related Features
Check your own HTML for align-items
Paste your own, or run the sample below. Analyzed in this page, with no signup and nothing stored.
Test your align-items layout across 21 email clients
Preview rendering, catch CSS issues, and see how align-items displays across Outlook, Gmail, and Apple Mail. Free, no account needed.
Instant live preview · No signup required · 21 email engines
Last tested upstream: · Last synced by Emailens:
caniemail.com (MIT) records Dec 19, 2023 as the last time align-items was tested in a real client, 2 years before this sync. Syncing copies that result forward, it does not re-test it. Carried in @emailens/engine data v0.12.2.