• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Outlook Tips

Learning Microsoft Outlook One Tip At A Time

Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginner's Guide Diane Poremsky [Outlook MVP]

  • Home
  • Tips Archive
  • How to...
  • Beginner
  • Outlook.com

How to always download images in Outlook email

Outlook protects your privacy by blocking the download of external content ("web bugs") by default. You can easily change this setting if you prefer to download everything at once.

My story: Years ago, when web bugs were first being talked about as a privacy issue and when Outlook was full of security holes, I used a preview pane add-in called Chilton Preview. It displayed all mail in plain text. If I wanted to see a message in all it's HTML glory, I could open it.

I subscribed to a service that sent weather updates daily and I looked at the messages almost every day, in the preview pane – in plain text. One day I received an email from the service saying something along the lines of "We noticed you haven't been reading our messages. Please click here if you want to continue your subscription, otherwise we will remove your address."

How presumptuous to assume that if their tracking logs showed nothing for my address that it meant I wasn't reading the email!

I was only slightly concerned about the privacy issues of web bugs at the time but this incident convinced me that while web bugs are great for marketers, they are bad for the consumer.

Advertisement with blocked external contentAs the image placeholder says, you can right-click on any image to download the images for the message.

If you want to change your settings to always download blocked content, you can access the settings one of two ways: the long way is through File, Options, Trust Center (Outlook 2010), Tools, Trust Center (Outlook 2007). Or use the shortcut: right click on the text in the Infobar in the message header, just under the subject and sender:

Outlook's Infobar: right click to change settings

When you right-click on the Infobar, an expanded menu opens, with an option to change the automatic download options:
right click on the infobar for a shortcut to the download settings dialog

When you select Change Automatic Download Settings, the Trust Center dialog opens to the Download Settings page:

Outlook's Automatic Download Settings dialog

My preference? The default settings. If I'm interested in an offer from the advertiser, I will show the images, otherwise I do not need to see them. Few, if any, of my friends embed external content in their messages so only content from advertisers is blocked by default.

There are two benefits to blocking content (usually images and style sheets) all the time. The first is that the sender can't tell for sure if you read the message because they don't get any tracking information back. Secondly, if you are working offline or have a slow connection to the internet, you can read these messages faster since you don't have to wait for the images to load. Assuming, of course, that the sender included more than images in the message.

Published December 31, 2011. Last updated on May 5, 2017.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • More
  • Print
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • Pinterest

Related posts:

Messages with malformed URLs cause Outlook to hang for several minutes while it tries to find the web server.Tip 921: Messages Hang Outlook 2010 If you use Outlook 2007’s RSS feature and want to display the full content inside Outlook instead of giving link to "View ArtTip 625: RSS and HTML Preview Automatically Check for Email in Outlook It’s not my preferred setting, but many users do want all external content downloaded automatically when they view a message. YouTip 855: Always download external content
Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Outlook Tips by Email

Search OutlookTips

Training and one-on-one assistance

Do you need help setting up Outlook or want some one-on-one training? I'm available for hire. See Training and one-on-one assistance for fees and to check availability.

Popular Posts this Week

  • Where is File tab in Outlook?
    Where is File tab in Outlook?
  • Understanding Tasks and To-Do List
    Understanding Tasks and To-Do List
  • How to bulk move Outlook folders
    How to bulk move Outlook folders
  • iCloud Contacts are not showing in Address Book
    iCloud Contacts are not showing in Address Book
  • Quick Actions in Outlook
    Quick Actions in Outlook
  • Outlook on the web Quick Actions moved to the right
    Outlook on the web Quick Actions moved to the right
  • Icons found in the Inbox, Message Headers, and Toolbars
    Icons found in the Inbox, Message Headers, and Toolbars
  • Creating rules that apply to an entire domain
    Creating rules that apply to an entire domain
  • Turn Off the Metered Network Warning in Outlook
    Turn Off the Metered Network Warning in Outlook
  • Change or cancel meetings without sending update messages
    Change or cancel meetings without sending update messages

All-Time Most Popular Posts

  • Windows 7 and Vista Start Search field
    How to start Outlook in safe mode
  • outlook.com icon
    Delete a message stuck in Outlook's Outbox
  • How to use Outlook's Command line switches
  • Use Cleanviews switch to reset all views
    How to Reset the View on Outlook folders
  • Where are my Outlook Files?
  • Folder paths
    How to Find Folder Paths in Outlook Mailboxes
  • How to use Scanpst.exe to repair Outlook data files
  • Outlook's Missing Holidays
  • open an outlook data file
    Open an existing personal data file (*.pst) in Outlook
  • Creating rules that apply to an entire domain
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Outlook on the web Quick Actions moved to the right
  • Automatically sign out of Outlook.com
  • Quick Actions in Outlook
  • Outlook Autocomplete Bug
  • Outlook on the web Address Book sort order

Recent Bug List

Microsoft keeps a running list of issues affecting recently released updates at Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for Windows.

Office Update History

Update history for supported Office versions is at Update history for Office

Resources

Ask questions and share your knowledge in Outlook Forums.

Translate

You Might Like

Where is File tab in Outlook?
Using Two-factor authentication
Where are my Outlook Files?
How to use Outlook's Command line switches

© 2003–2022 · Outlook Tips

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment