HTML Elements

<progress>

HTML element · 4 supported, 1 partial, 9 unsupported across 15 clients

The <progress> element renders a progress bar. Email client support is minimal — Outlook ignores it, and most webmail clients strip it. For visualizing progress in email, designers typically composite a static image or use proportionally-sized table cells.

Client Support

Client	Category	Engine	Support
Gmail	webmail	Gmail Web	Unsupported
Gmail Android	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Partial
Gmail iOS	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Unsupported
Outlook 365	webmail	Outlook Web	Unsupported
Outlook (New)	desktop	Outlook Web	Unsupported
Outlook Classic	desktop	Microsoft Word	Unsupported
Outlook iOS	mobile	Outlook Mobile	Unsupported
Outlook Android	mobile	Outlook Mobile	Unsupported
Apple Mail	desktop	WebKit	Supported
Apple Mail iOS	mobile	WebKit	Supported
Yahoo Mail	webmail	Yahoo	Unsupported
Samsung Mail	mobile	Samsung	Supported
Thunderbird	desktop	Gecko	Supported
HEY Mail	webmail	WebKit	Unsupported
Superhuman	desktop	Blink	Unknown

Client-by-client behaviour for <progress>

Fully supports <progress> (4): Apple Mail, Apple Mail iOS, Samsung Mail, Thunderbird.

Partial support (1): Gmail Android. Expect rendering quirks unique to each engine — partial support typically means a subset of values, an ignored shorthand, or sanitizer-specific rewrites.

No support (9): Gmail, Gmail iOS, Outlook 365, Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Outlook iOS, Outlook Android, Yahoo Mail, HEY Mail. Plan fallbacks for these clients before relying on <progress> in production sends.

Behaviour unverified in: Superhuman.

When to use <progress> in email

Showing onboarding step completion in a lifecycle email.
Visualizing fundraising or campaign goal progress.
Indicating account-completeness percentage in user-engagement emails.

Rendering behaviour and edge cases

Outlook strips <progress> entirely.
Gmail and most mobile clients render no visible progress bar.
Apple Mail supports <progress> with default styling but does not honor custom CSS reliably.

Recommended fallback strategy

Build progress bars from two stacked <td> elements with proportional widths and contrasting background colors. Render the percentage as text inside or beside the bar so recipients understand the value even when the bar fails.