CSS Properties

text-shadow

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

13 of 21 email clients render text-shadow fully (Sep 2, 2026 data); it breaks outright in Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS and 5 more.

5/7 webmail, 4/6 desktop, 4/8 mobile clients support text-shadow fully.
Unsupported in Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Outlook 365 and 4 more.
Outlook Classic (Word engine, supported to at least 2029) does not fully support text-shadow, and its replacement changes little here; see the deprecation diff.
Documented before/after fixes on this page cover 21 clients, including Gmail and Gmail Android.
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 Feb 28, 2019, synced by Emailens Sep 2, 2026.

Client Support

Client	Category	Engine	Support
Gmail	webmail	Gmail Web	Unsupported
Gmail Android	mobile	Gmail Mobile	Unsupported
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
Outlook for Mac	desktop	WebKit	Supported
Apple Mail	desktop	WebKit	Supported
Apple Mail iOS	mobile	WebKit	Supported
Yahoo Mail	webmail	Yahoo	Supported
Yahoo Mail Android	mobile	Yahoo	Supported
Yahoo Mail iOS	mobile	Yahoo	Supported
Samsung Mail	mobile	Samsung	Supported
Thunderbird	desktop	Gecko	Supported
HEY Mail	webmail	WebKit	Supported
Proton Mail	webmail	Proton	Supported
AOL Mail	webmail	AOL	Supported
Fastmail	webmail	Fastmail	Supported
Superhuman	desktop	Blink	Supported

Client-by-client behaviour for text-shadow

Fully supports text-shadow (13): Outlook for Mac, Apple Mail, Apple Mail iOS, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, Samsung Mail, Thunderbird, HEY Mail, Proton Mail, AOL Mail, Fastmail, Superhuman.

No support (8): Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Outlook 365, Outlook (New), Outlook Classic, Outlook iOS, Outlook Android. Plan fallbacks for these clients before relying on text-shadow in production sends.

Fixes & Workarounds

Gmail

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Gmail Android

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Gmail iOS

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Outlook 365

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Outlook (New)

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Outlook Classic

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Outlook iOS

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Outlook Android

Unsupported

text-shadow is stripped by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Use font-weight for emphasis.

Before (Broken)

before.html

3 lines

.glow {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

After (Fixed)

fixed.html

6 lines

.glow {
  /* text-shadow is not supported in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
     Use font-weight or letter-spacing for emphasis instead. */
  font-weight: bold;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Use font-weight or border-bottom as alternatives to text-shadow

Production guidance for text-shadow

text-shadow is a CSS property. Across the email client matrix, 13 of 21 tracked clients support it fully, 0 only partially, and 8 not at all. The clients most likely to require a workaround for this feature are Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS. 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 text-shadow 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 text-shadow

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

Zero-Friction Engine Preview

Test your text-shadow layout across 21 email clients

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

Instant live preview · No signup required · 21 email engines

Last tested upstream: Feb 28, 2019 · Last synced by Emailens: Sep 2, 2026

caniemail.com (MIT) records Feb 28, 2019 as the last time text-shadow was tested in a real client, 7 years before this sync. Syncing copies that result forward, it does not re-test it. Carried in @emailens/engine data v0.12.2.