Windows Live forum: Images in Windows Live Mail

I am aware that this pest has been around for some time now However, until recently, I haven't experienced any problems with images within the body of emails...... I thought that maybe it had been fixed - Seems NOT!

I even got my friend to re-send the emails in question to my 'Live.co.uk' (Hotmail) account instead of my normal ISP account, but the result was the same - Red Xs. I accessed my Live Inbox directly via webmail and the images were just Blank Grey Boxes!

I know that there was no Malware or 'Nasties' within the images since my friend scanned them prior to re-sending - they were just ordinary family photographs, taken on a digital camera.

I searched through several Microsoft websites/forums looking for related articles but came up with nothing positive, even though there are many posts related to the problem. I would have thought that this issue would have been addressed by now, by MS, since it is obviously a long standing problem. It doesn't seem to affect 'attached' images, so maybe that's one way of avoiding the problem. However, that is not always a convenient solution, when someone just wishes to forward a perfectly valid email, which has quite a few images within the body of the message.......

Thanks for you time Bob

Bill

I don't agree this is an issue with Microsoft or other corporations.

Email is a minefield and we all use it differently. Images are a case in point and there are 5 methods for sending images in emails;

1] Insert.

Use the Insert function in the email software, (or web mail page if the account is web mail), navigate to where the image is and select it.

2] Drag and drop.

Drag the image into the open email message area from wherever it is stored on the sender's computer.

3] Attach.

Click the Attach icon, (usually a paper clip), navigate to where the image is and select it. The image does not form part of the email message, but is shown as a file attachment.

4] Link to.

Supply a link to an image on some web page or other, or drag and drop from a web page.

5] Forward.

Forward the email that the sender has received which has images in it to some other recipient.

While 1 to 3 should work every time, we are still subject to the knowledge and confidence of the sender in how to compose emails and find images on their computers. But even then, with the newer Vista and Windows 7 versions of Windows, (if the sender is using Windows), we may find that some images are in folders that are 'Read only', (known as Junction Points), and may not be copied.

But the biggest headache are both 4 and 5.

4] Link to: I can send an email to someone with a link in it to some image on a web page. But web site pages change often and if, by the time the recipient receives the email the web page has changed, then the recipient's email may just see an empty placeholder.

5] Forward: This is even more problematical. It often depends on how the very first email was composed, and then on what the next senders' do. For example an email originally created with an image on the first sender's computer may disappear further down the line. I often receive such forwarded emails with blank placeholders and I know there is little use in asking my own sender. They will just say "I forwarded it".

Add to all that the option to "right click" on an image on a web page and select "Send to" a recipient, and also how web mail works differently to email software, and it is all really a bit hit and miss. So in that respect I do agree that email is broken, but the basic premise of email is fine. We just have to be aware of the problems and work around them. No easy task in today's world where users often are not able or not willing to delve into the problems. I include myself in that group and will sometimes just rush around and send emails without thinking things through.

From your posts above I see that, generally, the emails you receive from other senders arrive with images intact. But the emails with images from one particular sender sometimes work, sometimes do not. That points to one source, and it is very difficult to step through what is happening remotely, without you seeing what that other person is doing, or how.

Yes, it is all a bit of a problem, and not always easy to solve.

Mark

Thanks for your input Mark - it is appreciated.

Having used computers since the days of just DOS, I'm not exactly a 'newbie' at the game I'm fully aware of the various methods of sending images via email and currently method 5 is the one which is causing the problem....

What I don't understand is why some addressees for the particular email which my friend transmitted, receive the images OK, while others (including myself) just get the dreaded Red Xs.

You stated '.....That points to one source....' However, if it was a 'fault' at my friend's end, then why do some other addressees of the same email - sent at the same time - not experience the same problem?

I asked him to send the email again this morning to both my email accounts (ISP based and 'Live') and looked at it on three of my PCs, all using different OS and email clients, but all showed the same results - Red Xs, and in the case of my 'Live' Inbox, when viewed using web mail, just blank grey boxes.

I then asked him to extract the images from the original email which he received, to his desktop, and send them as attachments, to a new email (He's very tolerant !!) Result - the images opened OK on all three of my PCs.......

The whole problem just seems so damned illogical

If you could be there when he does what he 'normally' does, you may see something he is doing incorrectly.

I still think the problem is at your friend's end of the line and you telling him to extract the images to his Desktop then send them to you as an attachment shows that.

It may not be his fault, but the problem rests with him.

Forwarded email with images really is a problem. I don't know why they don't always work, but somewhere along the long line of forwarding they get lost.

As I said, I often receive forwarded emails with image placeholders. I used to reply to the sender and ask where the images were. They nearly always replied that they 'didn't know, they just forwarded the emails'.

Try a test. One of the emails he sent with only image placeholders, go look at the Message Source. If you use email software like Outlook, OE or Thunderbird, that is in the View menu and the wording may differ between applications, but this displays the whole message, hidden content as well. if you can find the section where the images should be, see what is there instead. That might give a clue.

Mark

we're in the Windows Live forum. That tells me what software you are using!

Mark

I install Thunderbird and see if the problem shows up there.
Bob