HTML Elements

<select>

HTML element · 13 supported, 3 partial, 4 unsupported across 21 clients

13 of 21 email clients render <select> fully (Sep 2, 2026 data); it breaks outright in Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Yahoo Mail iOS and 1 more.

6/7 webmail, 2/6 desktop, 5/8 mobile clients support <select> fully.
Unsupported in Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Yahoo Mail iOS, HEY Mail.
Partial in Gmail iOS, Apple Mail iOS, Thunderbird, behavior differs from browsers, test before relying on it.
Outlook Classic (Word engine, supported to at least 2029) does not fully support <select>, 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 Sep 10, 2019, synced by Emailens Sep 2, 2026.

The <select> element renders a dropdown menu. Every major email client strips <select> for security reasons, since interactive form controls in email are a known phishing vector. Linking out to a hosted form is the only reliable pattern.

Client Support

Client	Category	Engine	Support
Gmail	webmail	Gmail Web	Supported
Gmail Android	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Supported
Gmail iOS	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Partial^{See caveat 1}
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	Partial^{See caveat 1}
Yahoo Mail	webmail	Yahoo	Supported
Yahoo Mail Android	mobile	Yahoo	Supported
Yahoo Mail iOS	mobile	Yahoo	Unsupported
Samsung Mail	mobile	Samsung	Supported
Thunderbird	desktop	Gecko	Partial^{See caveat 2}
HEY Mail	webmail	WebKit	Unsupported
Proton Mail	webmail	Proton	Supported
AOL Mail	webmail	AOL	Supported
Fastmail	webmail	Fastmail	Supported
Superhuman	desktop	Blink	Unknown

Documented caveats (2)

1.Gmail iOS, Apple Mail iOS: Buggy. Works if the email is shorter than the viewport. Otherwise the screen goes blank when the <select> is in focus.
2.Thunderbird: Buggy. Interacting with the element submits the form it belongs in.

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

Client-by-client behaviour for <select>

Fully supports <select> (13): Gmail, Gmail Android, Outlook 365, Outlook iOS, Outlook Android, Outlook for Mac, Apple Mail, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Samsung Mail, Proton Mail, AOL Mail, Fastmail.

Partial support (3): Gmail iOS, Apple Mail iOS, Thunderbird. Expect rendering quirks unique to each engine. Partial support typically means a subset of values, an ignored shorthand, or sanitizer-specific rewrites.

No support (4): Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Yahoo Mail iOS, HEY Mail. Plan fallbacks for these clients before relying on <select> in production sends.

Behaviour unverified in: Superhuman.

When to use <select> in email

Hosted survey or preferences forms , link to a web page rather than embed.
AMP for Email contexts where dropdowns are explicitly supported (Gmail only).
Future-proofing markup for niche clients that eventually support form rendering.

Rendering behaviour and edge cases

Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, and Apple Mail all strip <select> elements.
AMP for Email provides limited form support but does not render native <select> reliably.
Designs that depend on dropdown selection within the email itself will fail in production.

Recommended fallback strategy

Replace any <select> with a CTA button that links to a hosted form. Render the available options as a styled list inside the email so recipients know what to expect on the destination page.