CSS Properties

text-align

CSS property · 13 supported, 8 partial, 0 unsupported across 21 clients

text-align splits the field: 13 full, 8 partial of 21 clients as of Sep 2, 2026, the partials (Gmail Android, Outlook (New), Outlook Classic) are where sends go wrong.

5/7 webmail, 4/6 desktop, 4/8 mobile clients support text-align fully.
Partial in Gmail Android, Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Yahoo Mail and 4 more, behavior differs from browsers, test before relying on it.
Outlook Classic (Word engine, supported to at least 2029) does not fully support text-align, 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 Nov 14, 2025, synced by Emailens Sep 2, 2026.

text-align controls horizontal alignment of inline content within a block-level container and is supported across every modern email client. Most rendering inconsistencies come from inheritance , clients sometimes reset text-align at table boundaries, requiring explicit declarations on each cell.

Client Support

Client	Category	Engine	Support
Gmail	webmail	Gmail Web	Supported^{See caveat 1}
Gmail Android	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Partial^{See caveat 2}
Gmail iOS	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Supported
Outlook 365	webmail	Outlook Web	Supported^{See caveat 1}
Outlook (New)	desktop	Outlook Web	Partial^{See caveat 3}
Outlook Classic	desktop	Microsoft Word	Partial^{See caveat 3}
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 3}
Yahoo Mail Android	mobile	Yahoo	Partial^{See caveat 3}
Yahoo Mail iOS	mobile	Yahoo	Partial^{See caveat 3}
Samsung Mail	mobile	Samsung	Partial^{See caveat 2}
Thunderbird	desktop	Gecko	Supported
HEY Mail	webmail	WebKit	Supported
Proton Mail	webmail	Proton	Supported
AOL Mail	webmail	AOL	Partial^{See caveat 3}
Fastmail	webmail	Fastmail	Supported
Superhuman	desktop	Blink	Supported

Documented caveats (3)

1.Gmail, Outlook 365: Support of the match-parent value depends on browser support.
2.Gmail Android, Samsung Mail: Partial. Doesn't support the match-parent value. Supports the vendor prefixed value -webkit-match-parent.
3.Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, AOL Mail: Partial. Flow-relative values start and end are not supported. Partial. Doesn't support the match-parent value.

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

Client-by-client behaviour for text-align

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

Partial support (8): Gmail Android, Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, Samsung Mail, AOL Mail. Expect rendering quirks unique to each engine. Partial support typically means a subset of values, an ignored shorthand, or sanitizer-specific rewrites.

When to use text-align in email

Centering a logo or hero copy in a wide table cell.
Right-aligning tabular financial data in receipt and invoice templates.
Justifying long-form newsletter copy (rarely recommended due to legibility issues).

Rendering behaviour and edge cases

Some clients reset text-align at the <table> boundary, so set it on the inner <td> rather than the wrapping table.
Outlook on Windows occasionally inherits a parent <td>'s align attribute over CSS text-align, which can cause unexpected re-alignment.
text-align: justify can produce uneven word spacing on small screens , avoid in mobile-first email.

Recommended fallback strategy

Combine the legacy align="center" or align="right" HTML attribute with CSS text-align for maximum compatibility. Always set text-align on the immediate parent of the inline content, not several levels up.