Is there any sense in using the tag in HTML e-mail?</a></h1> </div> <div class="grid fw-wrap pb8 mb16 bb bc-black-075"> <div class="grid--cell ws-nowrap mr16 mb8" title="2016-01-12 19:07:53Z"> <span class="fc-light mr2">Asked</span> <time itemprop="dateCreated" datetime="2012-09-02T16:35:32.447" class="fromnow">Sep 02 '12 at 16:35</time> </div> <div class="grid--cell ws-nowrap mr16 mb8"> <span class="fc-light mr2">Active</span> <time class="fromnow" title="2020-07-17T18:36:07.727" datetime="2020-07-17T18:36:07.727">Jul 17 '20 at 18:36</a> </div> <div class="grid--cell ws-nowrap mb8" title="Viewed 11,251 times"> <span class="fc-light mr2">Viewed</span> 1.1k times </div> </div> <div id="mainbar" role="main" aria-label="questions and answers"> <div id="question" class="question" data-questionid="12237776" data-ownerid="" data-score="37"> <div class="post-layout"> <div class="votecell post-layout--left"> <div class="js-voting-container grid jc-center fd-column ai-stretch gs4 fc-black-200" data-post-id="12237776"> <button class="js-vote-up-btn grid--cell s-btn s-btnunset c-pointer"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="m0 svg-icon iconArrowUpLg" width="36" height="36" viewBox="0 0 36 36"><path d="M2 26h32L18 10 2 26z"></path></svg></button> <div class="js-vote-count grid--cell fc-black-500 fs-title grid fd-column ai-center" itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="37">37</div> <button class="js-bookmark-btn s-btn s-btnunset c-pointer py4"> <svg aria-hidden="true" class="svg-icon iconBookmark" width="18" height="18" viewBox="0 0 18 18"><path d="M6 1a2 2 0 00-2 2v14l5-4 5 4V3a2 2 0 00-2-2H6zm3.9 3.83h2.9l-2.35 1.7.9 2.77L9 7.59l-2.35 1.7.9-2.76-2.35-1.7h2.9L9 2.06l.9 2.77z"></path></svg> <div class="js-bookmark-count mt4" data-value="0">0</div> </button> </div> </div> <div class="postcell post-layout--right"> <div class="s-prose js-post-body" itemprop="text"><p>When sending an HTML e-mail, is there any sense in using the <code><title></code> tag? In the <a class="external-link" href="http://php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php">PHP Manual</a>, for instance, they use such a tag in their main sample code. However, I see no reason why an e-mail client would use this title and not the Subject from the e-mail. Is there any reason to set this tag? </p></div> <div class="mt24 mb12"> <div class="post-taglist grid gs4 gsy fd-column"> <div class="grid ps-relative"> <a href="../../questions/tagged/email" class="post-tag js-gps-track" title="show questions tagged 'email'" rel="tag">email</a> <a href="../../questions/tagged/html-email" class="post-tag js-gps-track" title="show questions tagged 'html-email'" rel="tag">html-email</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb0"> <div class="mt16 grid gs8 gsy fw-wrap jc-end ai-start pt4 mb16"> <div class="grid--cell mr16 fl1 w96"></div> <div class="post-signature grid--cell"> <div class="user-info "> <div class="user-action-time">edited <span title="2012-09-02T17:05:08.887" class="relativetime">Sep 02 '12 at 17:05</span></div> <div class="user-gravatar32"></div> <div class="user-details" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"> <span class="d-none" itemprop="name"></span> <div class="-flair"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-signature owner grid--cell"> <div class="s-user-card s-user-carddeleted"> <time class="s-user-card--time" datetime="asked Sep 02 '12 at 16:35">asked Sep 02 '12 at 16:35</time> <div class="s-avatar s-avatar32 s-user-card--avatar"> </div> <div class="s-user-card--info"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-layout--right js-post-comments-component"> <div id="comments-12237776" class="comments js-comments-container bt bc-black-075 mt12 " data-post-id="12237776" data-min-length="15"> <ul class="comments-list js-comments-list" data-remaining-comments-count="0" data-canpost="false" data-cansee="true" data-comments-unavailable="false" data-addlink-disabled="true"> <li id="comment-42778584" class="comment js-comment " data-comment-id="42778584" data-comment-owner-id="856498" data-comment-score="1"> <div class="js-comment-actions comment-actions"> <div class="comment-score js-comment-edit-hide"> <span title="number of 'useful comment' votes received" class="warm">1</span> </div> </div> <div class="comment-text js-comment-text-and-form"> <a name="comment42778584_12237776"></a> <div class="comment-body js-comment-edit-hide"> <span class="comment-copy">Seems it is used by some clients: http://stylecampaign.com/blog/2010/09/hotmail-mobile-displays-html-title-in-preview/</span> – <a href="../../users/856498/cyberwombat" title="38,105 reputation" class="comment-user ">cyberwombat</a> <span class="comment-date" dir="ltr"><a class="comment-link" href="../../questions/12237776/is-there-any-sense-in-using-the-title-tag-in-html-e-mail#comment42778584_12237776"><span title="2014-11-26T02:51:12.083 License: CC BY-SA 3.0" class="relativetime-clean">Nov 26 '14 at 02:51</span></a></span> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="answers"> <a name="tab-top"></a> <div id="answers-header"> <div class="answers-subheader grid ai-center mb8"> <div class="grid--cell fl1"> <h2 class="mb0" data-answercount="9">3 Answers<span style="display:none;" itemprop="answerCount">3</span></h2> </div> </div> </div> <a name="14392918"></a> <div id="answer-14392918" class="answer accepted-answer" data-answerid="14392918" data-ownerid="1487081" data-score="16" itemprop="acceptedAnswer" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Answer"> <div class="post-layout"> <div class="votecell post-layout--left"> <div class="js-voting-container grid jc-center fd-column ai-stretch gs4 fc-black-200" data-post-id="14392918"> <button class="js-vote-up-btn grid--cell s-btn s-btnunset c-pointer"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="m0 svg-icon iconArrowUpLg" width="36" height="36" viewBox="0 0 36 36"><path d="M2 26h32L18 10 2 26z"></path></svg></button> <div class="js-vote-count grid--cell fc-black-500 fs-title grid fd-column ai-center" itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="16">16</div> <div class="js-accepted-answer-indicator grid--cell fc-green-500 py6 mtn8"><div class="ta-center"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="svg-icon iconCheckmarkLg" width="36" height="36" viewBox="0 0 36 36"><path d="m6 14 8 8L30 6v8L14 30l-8-8v-8z"></path></svg></div></div> </div> </div> <div class="postcell post-layout--right"> <div class="s-prose js-post-body" itemprop="text"><p>I've been looking into this myself as I'm writing a PHP mailing list manager script that uses the <code>sendmail()</code> function.</p> <p>The script allows the admin to create and send multiform emails (both text and html versions).</p> <p>After much testing I have found that some email servers appear to have issues with the title tag (<code><title></title></code>).</p> <p>I created a test email and sent it to 5 of my email address, my <code>@blueyonder.co.uk</code> email failed to arrive but the 4 others had no problems.</p> <p>After a process of elimination it turned out that the <code>@blueyonder.co.uk</code> mail servers did not like the title tags in the html part of the email message, when I removed the tag the email arrived no probs.</p> <p>Very strange!</p></div> <div class="mb0"> <div class="mt16 grid gs8 gsy fw-wrap jc-end ai-start pt4 mb16"> <div class="grid--cell mr16 fl1 w96"></div> <div class="post-signature grid--cell"> <div class="s-user-card s-user-card"> <time class="s-user-card--time" datetime="edited Mar 28 '14 at 15:19">edited Mar 28 '14 at 15:19</time> <a href="../../users/759866/benmorel" class="s-avatar s-avatar32 s-user-card--avatar"> <img class="s-avatar--image" src="../../users/profiles/759866.webp" data-jdenticon-width="32" data-jdenticon-height="32" data-jdenticon-value="BenMorel" /> </a> <div class="s-user-card--info"> <a href="../../users/759866/benmorel" class="s-user-card--link">BenMorel</a> <ul class="s-user-card--awards"> <li class="s-user-card--rep" title="reputation score">34,448</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blinggold" title="50 gold badges">50</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blingsilver" title="182 silver badges">182</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blingbronze" title="322 bronze badges">322</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-signature grid--cell"> <div class="s-user-card s-user-card"> <time class="s-user-card--time" datetime="answered Jan 18 '13 at 05:27">answered Jan 18 '13 at 05:27</time> <a href="../../users/1487081/john" class="s-avatar s-avatar32 s-user-card--avatar"> <img class="s-avatar--image" src="../../users/profiles/1487081.webp" data-jdenticon-width="32" data-jdenticon-height="32" data-jdenticon-value="john" /> </a> <div class="s-user-card--info"> <a href="../../users/1487081/john" class="s-user-card--link">john</a> <ul class="s-user-card--awards"> <li class="s-user-card--rep" title="reputation score">305</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blinggold" title="1 gold badge">1</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blingsilver" title="3 silver badge">3</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-bling__bronze" title="12 bronze badge">12</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-layout--right js-post-comments-component"> <div id="comments-14392918" class="comments js-comments-container bt bc-black-075 mt12 " data-post-id="14392918" data-min-length="15"> <ul class="comments-list js-comments-list" data-remaining-comments-count="0" data-canpost="false" data-cansee="true" data-comments-unavailable="false" data-addlink-disabled="true"> <li id="comment-45232242" class="comment js-comment " data-comment-id="45232242" data-comment-owner-id="123671" data-comment-score="2"> <div class="js-comment-actions comment-actions"> <div class="comment-score js-comment-edit-hide"> <span title="number of 'useful comment' votes received" class="warm">2</span> </div> </div> <div class="comment-text js-comment-text-and-form"> <a name="comment45232242_14392918"></a> <div class="comment-body js-comment-edit-hide"> <span class="comment-copy">'some email servers appear to have issues' is very vague. What issues? Were the email accepted by the remote SMTP server? Did the emails bounce, if so, on what basis were they rejected?</span> – <a href="../../users/123671/mikemaccana" title="110,530 reputation" class="comment-user ">mikemaccana</a> <span class="comment-date" dir="ltr"><a class="comment-link" href="../../questions/12237776/is-there-any-sense-in-using-the-title-tag-in-html-e-mail#comment45232242_14392918"><span title="2015-02-11T10:55:37.483 License: CC BY-SA 3.0" class="relativetime-clean">Feb 11 '15 at 10:55</span></a></span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="comment-51185403" class="comment js-comment " data-comment-id="51185403" data-comment-owner-id="1487081" data-comment-score="0"> <div class="js-comment-actions comment-actions"> <div class="comment-score js-comment-edit-hide"> </div> </div> <div class="comment-text js-comment-text-and-form"> <a name="comment51185403_14392918"></a> <div class="comment-body js-comment-edit-hide"> <span class="comment-copy">@mikemaccana they did not arrive so i can only guess rejected!</span> – <a href="../../users/1487081/john" title="305 reputation" class="comment-user ">john</a> <span class="comment-date" dir="ltr"><a class="comment-link" href="../../questions/12237776/is-there-any-sense-in-using-the-title-tag-in-html-e-mail#comment51185403_14392918"><span title="2015-07-24T19:06:37.287 License: CC BY-SA 3.0" class="relativetime-clean">Jul 24 '15 at 19:06</span></a></span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="comment-51255209" class="comment js-comment " data-comment-id="51255209" data-comment-owner-id="123671" data-comment-score="1"> <div class="js-comment-actions comment-actions"> <div class="comment-score js-comment-edit-hide"> <span title="number of 'useful comment' votes received" class="warm">1</span> </div> </div> <div class="comment-text js-comment-text-and-form"> <a name="comment51255209_14392918"></a> <div class="comment-body js-comment-edit-hide"> <span class="comment-copy">if you sent the mail and it wasn't deliverable you should have a bounce message with details.</span> – <a href="../../users/123671/mikemaccana" title="110,530 reputation" class="comment-user ">mikemaccana</a> <span class="comment-date" dir="ltr"><a class="comment-link" href="../../questions/12237776/is-there-any-sense-in-using-the-title-tag-in-html-e-mail#comment51255209_14392918"><span title="2015-07-27T13:55:15.843 License: CC BY-SA 3.0" class="relativetime-clean">Jul 27 '15 at 13:55</span></a></span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="comment-51263740" class="comment js-comment " data-comment-id="51263740" data-comment-owner-id="1487081" data-comment-score="0"> <div class="js-comment-actions comment-actions"> <div class="comment-score js-comment-edit-hide"> </div> </div> <div class="comment-text js-comment-text-and-form"> <a name="comment51263740_14392918"></a> <div class="comment-body js-comment-edit-hide"> <span class="comment-copy">SHOULD being the word! but nothing at all.. im guessing this would apply to all virginmedia mail accounts also as the took over blueyonder.. I also have to stress that this is an old post now and i have not tried it since and virginmedia use google mail now.</span> – <a href="../../users/1487081/john" title="305 reputation" class="comment-user ">john</a> <span class="comment-date" dir="ltr"><a class="comment-link" href="../../questions/12237776/is-there-any-sense-in-using-the-title-tag-in-html-e-mail#comment51263740_14392918"><span title="2015-07-27T17:30:51.297 License: CC BY-SA 3.0" class="relativetime-clean">Jul 27 '15 at 17:30</span></a></span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="comment-111347639" class="comment js-comment " data-comment-id="111347639" data-comment-owner-id="874188" data-comment-score="1"> <div class="js-comment-actions comment-actions"> <div class="comment-score js-comment-edit-hide"> <span title="number of 'useful comment' votes received" class="warm">1</span> </div> </div> <div class="comment-text js-comment-text-and-form"> <a name="comment111347639_14392918"></a> <div class="comment-body js-comment-edit-hide"> <span class="comment-copy">Random spam filters of a specific minor provider generalize very poorly to the rest of the Internet. I'm sure if you search for long enough you can find an ISP which blocks messages which are exactly 4096 bytes long, or anything which contains the letter `z`.</span> – <a href="../../users/874188/tripleee" title="175,061 reputation" class="comment-user ">tripleee</a> <span class="comment-date" dir="ltr"><a class="comment-link" href="../../questions/12237776/is-there-any-sense-in-using-the-title-tag-in-html-e-mail#comment111347639_14392918"><span title="2020-07-18T06:57:49.233 License: CC BY-SA 4.0" class="relativetime-clean">Jul 18 '20 at 06:57</span></a></span> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <a name="12238062"></a> <div id="answer-12238062" class="answer " data-answerid="12238062" data-ownerid="848242" data-score="8" itemprop="suggestedAnswer" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Answer"> <div class="post-layout"> <div class="votecell post-layout--left"> <div class="js-voting-container grid jc-center fd-column ai-stretch gs4 fc-black-200" data-post-id="12238062"> <button class="js-vote-up-btn grid--cell s-btn s-btnunset c-pointer"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="m0 svg-icon iconArrowUpLg" width="36" height="36" viewBox="0 0 36 36"><path d="M2 26h32L18 10 2 26z"></path></svg></button> <div class="js-vote-count grid--cell fc-black-500 fs-title grid fd-column ai-center" itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="8">8</div> </div> </div> <div class="postcell post-layout--right"> <div class="s-prose js-post-body" itemprop="text"><p>The only use I would see is that some clients, like Outlook, allow you to view an email in a browser for better rendering. It would then be a plus to have the html title tag set.</p></div> <div class="mb0"> <div class="mt16 grid gs8 gsy fw-wrap jc-end ai-start pt4 mb16"> <div class="grid--cell mr16 fl1 w96"></div> <div class="post-signature grid--cell"> <div class="s-user-card s-user-card"> <time class="s-user-card--time" datetime="answered Sep 02 '12 at 17:12">answered Sep 02 '12 at 17:12</time> <a href="../../users/848242/phil-r" class="s-avatar s-avatar32 s-user-card--avatar"> <img class="s-avatar--image" src="../../users/profiles/848242.webp" data-jdenticon-width="32" data-jdenticon-height="32" data-jdenticon-value="Phil-R" /> </a> <div class="s-user-card--info"> <a href="../../users/848242/phil-r" class="s-user-card--link">Phil-R</a> <ul class="s-user-card--awards"> <li class="s-user-card--rep" title="reputation score">2,193</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blingsilver" title="18 silver badges">18</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blingbronze" title="21 bronze badges">21</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-layout--right js-post-comments-component"> </div> </div> </div> <a name="62959965"></a> <div id="answer-62959965" class="answer " data-answerid="62959965" data-ownerid="918244" data-score="2" itemprop="suggestedAnswer" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/Answer"> <div class="post-layout"> <div class="votecell post-layout--left"> <div class="js-voting-container grid jc-center fd-column ai-stretch gs4 fc-black-200" data-post-id="62959965"> <button class="js-vote-up-btn grid--cell s-btn s-btnunset c-pointer"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="m0 svg-icon iconArrowUpLg" width="36" height="36" viewBox="0 0 36 36"><path d="M2 26h32L18 10 2 26z"></path></svg></button> <div class="js-vote-count grid--cell fc-black-500 fs-title grid fd-column ai-center" itemprop="upvoteCount" data-value="2">2</div> </div> </div> <div class="postcell post-layout--right"> <div class="s-prose js-post-body" itemprop="text"><p><em>(Old question, I know ;) )</em></p> <p>My experience is that some mail clients will display the <code><title></code> tag in their email preview and some won't. Some clients preview will be "Subject + <code><title></code> + Preheader" and some will only be "Subject + preheader", so that creates an inconsistent experience.</p> <p>Because of that, I found it's better to only use a preheader.</p> <hr/> <p>For completion's sake, the "Preheader" is a hidden text form the body that is only used in the preview, for example, something like...</p> <pre class="lang-html prettyprint-override"><code><div style="display: none; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> Insert hidden preheader text here </div> </code></pre></div> <div class="mb0"> <div class="mt16 grid gs8 gsy fw-wrap jc-end ai-start pt4 mb16"> <div class="grid--cell mr16 fl1 w96"></div> <div class="post-signature grid--cell"> <div class="s-user-card s-user-card"> <time class="s-user-card--time" datetime="answered Jul 17 '20 at 18:36">answered Jul 17 '20 at 18:36</time> <a href="../../users/918244/dstj" class="s-avatar s-avatar32 s-user-card--avatar"> <img class="s-avatar--image" src="../../users/profiles/918244.webp" data-jdenticon-width="32" data-jdenticon-height="32" data-jdenticon-value="dstj" /> </a> <div class="s-user-card--info"> <a href="../../users/918244/dstj" class="s-user-card--link">dstj</a> <ul class="s-user-card--awards"> <li class="s-user-card--rep" title="reputation score">4,800</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blinggold" title="2 gold badges">2</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-blingsilver" title="39 silver badges">39</li> <li class="s-award-bling s-award-bling__bronze" title="61 bronze badges">61</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-layout--right js-post-comments-component"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script src="../../static/js/stack-icons.js"></script> <script src="../../static/js/fromnow.js"></script> </body> </html>