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Does CSS word-wrap Work in HTML Email?

The word-wrap CSS property (now standardized as overflow-wrap) controls whether the browser should break words to prevent them from overflowing their container. When set to break-word, it forces otherwise unbreakable strings to wrap onto the next line to avoid layout issues.

Quick Answer

Does word-wrap work in HTML email?

The CSS word-wrap property is supported in Outlook (Mac / Web), Apple Mail, Yahoo! Mail. It is NOT supported in Outlook (Windows). Always include a safe fallback for unsupported clients.

Which Email Clients Support CSS word-wrap?

CSS support for word-wrap across email clients

Email ClientDesktopMobile / WebNotes
Gmail~ Partial~ Partial—
Outlook (Windows)✗ No?—
Outlook (Mac / Web)✓ Yes✓ Yes—
Apple Mail✓ Yes✓ Yes—
Yahoo! Mail✓ Yes?—
Samsung Email??—
Thunderbird??—
ProtonMail??—
Fastmail??—

Notes

  • #1 Applies `word-wrap: break-word` to all items.
  • #2 Does not honor any wrapping, including `word-wrap`, `overflow-wrap`, and `word-break`. Using an equivalent MSO breakdown (`-ms-word-break: break-all` and `mso-hyphenate: none` together) does not work.
  • #3 Supports both `word-wrap` and equivalent MSO breakdown (`-ms-word-break: break-all` and `mso-hyphenate: none` together)

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Related CSS Properties

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