CSS Properties

float

CSS property · 13 supported, 6 partial, 2 unsupported across 21 clients

13 of 21 email clients render float fully (Sep 2, 2026 data); it breaks outright in Outlook (New), Outlook Classic.

5/7 webmail, 4/6 desktop, 4/8 mobile clients support float fully.
Unsupported in Outlook (New), Outlook Classic.
Partial in Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android and 2 more, behavior differs from browsers, test before relying on it.
Outlook Classic (Word engine, supported to at least 2029) does not fully support float, and its replacement changes little here; see the deprecation diff.
Documented before/after fixes on this page cover 1 client, including Outlook Classic.
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 May 8, 2024, synced by Emailens Sep 2, 2026.

Client Support

Client	Category	Engine	Support
Gmail	webmail	Gmail Web	Supported
Gmail Android	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Partial^{See caveat 1}
Gmail iOS	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Partial^{See caveat 1}
Outlook 365	webmail	Outlook Web	Supported
Outlook (New)	desktop	Outlook Web	Unsupported^{See caveat 2}
Outlook Classic	desktop	Microsoft Word	Unsupported^{See caveat 2}
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	Partial^{See caveat 1}
Yahoo Mail Android	mobile	Yahoo	Partial^{See caveat 1}
Yahoo Mail iOS	mobile	Yahoo	Partial^{See caveat 1}
Samsung Mail	mobile	Samsung	Supported
Thunderbird	desktop	Gecko	Supported
HEY Mail	webmail	WebKit	Supported
Proton Mail	webmail	Proton	Supported
AOL Mail	webmail	AOL	Partial^{See caveat 1}
Fastmail	webmail	Fastmail	Supported
Superhuman	desktop	Blink	Supported

Documented caveats (2)

1.Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, AOL Mail: Partial. Logical property values inline-start and inline-end are not supported.
2.Outlook (New), Outlook Classic: Not supported. table and img elements can use an align attribute to get a similar effect.

Caveats recorded by caniemail.com (MIT) and carried verbatim, one entry per wording rather than per client.

Client-by-client behaviour for float

Fully supports float (13): Gmail, Outlook 365, Outlook iOS, Outlook Android, Outlook for Mac, Apple Mail, Apple Mail iOS, Samsung Mail, Thunderbird, HEY Mail, Proton Mail, Fastmail, Superhuman.

Partial support (6): Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, AOL Mail. Expect rendering quirks unique to each engine. Partial support typically means a subset of values, an ignored shorthand, or sanitizer-specific rewrites.

No support (2): Outlook (New), Outlook Classic. Plan fallbacks for these clients before relying on float in production sends.

Fixes & Workarounds

Outlook (New)

Unsupported

Use table cells with align attribute for side-by-side content.

Outlook Classic

Unsupported

Use table cells with align="left" or align="right".

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

<img src="photo.jpg" style="float: left;
  margin-right: 16px;" width="200" />
<p>Text wraps around the image.</p>

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

12 lines

<table role="presentation" cellpadding="0"
  cellspacing="0" border="0">
  <tr>
    <td width="200" valign="top" style="padding-right: 16px;">
      <img src="photo.jpg" width="200"
        style="display: block; border: 0;" />
    </td>
    <td valign="top">
      <p>Text next to the image.</p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

Use table align attribute instead of CSS float

Gmail Android

Partial

Use table cells with align attribute for side-by-side content.

Gmail iOS

Partial

Use table cells with align attribute for side-by-side content.

Yahoo Mail

Partial

Use table cells with align attribute for side-by-side content.

Yahoo Mail Android

Partial

Use table cells with align attribute for side-by-side content.

Yahoo Mail iOS

Partial

Use table cells with align attribute for side-by-side content.

AOL Mail

Partial

Use table cells with align attribute for side-by-side content.

Production guidance for float

float is a CSS property. Across the email client matrix, 13 of 21 tracked clients support it fully, 6 only partially, and 2 not at all. The clients most likely to require a workaround for this feature are Outlook Classic. Each of them needs a tailored fallback. See the per-client examples above for the specific code fix Emailens recommends.

When in doubt, ship a baseline that renders without float and treat it as progressive enhancement on clients where support is verified. Emailens automatically detects cross-client divergence on this feature when you preview an email, so you can see exactly which template paths break before a campaign goes out.

Related Features

!important accent-color align-items animation aspect-ratio backdrop-filter background background-blend-mode

Check your own HTML for float

Paste your own, or run the sample below. Analyzed in this page, with no signup and nothing stored.

Zero-Friction Engine Preview

Test your float layout across 21 email clients

Preview rendering, catch CSS issues, and see how float displays across Outlook, Gmail, and Apple Mail. Free, no account needed.

Instant live preview · No signup required · 21 email engines

Last tested upstream: May 8, 2024 · Last synced by Emailens: Sep 2, 2026

caniemail.com (MIT) records May 8, 2024 as the last time float 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.