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Emailens
Pseudo-Classes & Selectors

:focus-within

selector or pseudo-class · 6 supported, 2 partial, 5 unsupported across 21 clients

As of Sep 2, 2026, :focus-within fails or degrades in 15 of 21 email clients, treat it as progressive enhancement, never structure.

  • 3/7 webmail, 1/6 desktop, 2/8 mobile clients support :focus-within fully.
  • Unsupported in Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Outlook 365 and 1 more.
  • Partial in Outlook Android, Outlook for Mac, behavior differs from browsers, test before relying on it.
  • Outlook Classic (Word engine, supported to at least 2029) does not fully support :focus-within, 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 Apr 14, 2026, synced by Emailens Sep 2, 2026.

Client Support

ClientCategoryEngineSupport
GmailwebmailGmail WebUnsupported
Gmail AndroidmobileGmail MobileUnsupported
Gmail iOSmobileGmail MobileUnsupported
Outlook 365webmailOutlook WebUnsupported
Outlook (New)desktopOutlook WebUnsupported
Outlook ClassicdesktopMicrosoft WordUnknown
Outlook iOSmobileOutlook MobileUnknown
Outlook AndroidmobileOutlook MobilePartialSee caveat 1
Outlook for MacdesktopWebKitPartialSee caveat 1
Apple MaildesktopWebKitSupported
Apple Mail iOSmobileWebKitUnknown
Yahoo MailwebmailYahooSupported
Yahoo Mail AndroidmobileYahooSupported
Yahoo Mail iOSmobileYahooUnknown
Samsung MailmobileSamsungSupported
ThunderbirddesktopGeckoUnknown
HEY MailwebmailWebKitUnknown
Proton MailwebmailProtonSupported
AOL MailwebmailAOLSupported
FastmailwebmailFastmailUnknown
SuperhumandesktopBlinkUnknown

Documented caveats (1)

  1. 1.Outlook Android, Outlook for Mac: Partial. Only supported on type selectors.

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

Client-by-client behaviour for :focus-within

Fully supports :focus-within (6): Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Samsung Mail, Proton Mail, AOL Mail.

Partial support (2): Outlook Android, Outlook for Mac. Expect rendering quirks unique to each engine. Partial support typically means a subset of values, an ignored shorthand, or sanitizer-specific rewrites.

No support (5): Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Outlook 365, Outlook (New). Plan fallbacks for these clients before relying on :focus-within in production sends.

Behaviour unverified in: Outlook Classic, Outlook iOS, Apple Mail iOS, Yahoo Mail iOS, Thunderbird, HEY Mail, Fastmail, Superhuman.

Fixes & Workarounds

Gmail

Unsupported

":focus-within" is not supported in this email client.

Gmail Android

Unsupported

":focus-within" is not supported in this email client.

Gmail iOS

Unsupported

":focus-within" is not supported in this email client.

Outlook 365

Unsupported

":focus-within" is not supported in this email client.

Outlook (New)

Unsupported

":focus-within" is not supported in this email client.

Outlook Android

Partial

":focus-within" is not supported in this email client.

Outlook for Mac

Partial

":focus-within" is not supported in this email client.

Related Features

Check your own HTML for :focus-within

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

Zero-Friction Engine Preview

Test your :focus-within layout across 21 email clients

Preview rendering, catch CSS issues, and see how :focus-within 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 Apr 14, 2026 as the last time :focus-within was tested in a real client, less than a year before this sync. Syncing copies that result forward, it does not re-test it. Carried in @emailens/engine data v0.12.2.