One of the most frequent questions I hear is: "Why do email messages I receive, which are supposed to include a picture, often arrive with a red X in a white box instead of a picture?"

There are many reasons for this; here are the main ones:

Most viruses are sent as email attachments — and many of these viruses are embedded in images, or are named to look like image files. Consequently, many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) block all attachments, and require you to click on something that says it's OK to accept them.

If the attachment happens to be a picture that was suppossed to be included in the body of an email, a small white box with a red X will appear instead.

Outlook Express comes with a default setting that blocks email attachments from being opened or downloaded. This can be overcome by clicking on Tools>Options>Security, and unchecking "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus." You also need to have "Block images and other external content in HTML email" unchecked.

Having done this, however, you are admonished to be very, very careful about downloading or opening any attachment that you are not expecting or that you did not ask for.

If the email is one of those cute greeting cards or inspirational messages that has an animated graphic with each paragraph, it was professionally prepared as an HTML document that should look the same to anyone who receives it.

However, not all email programs are completely compatible with all others, and each has a different way of handling pictures — especially when it comes to forwarding a picture-bearing email to someone else. If you are an AOL user, and you use your FORWARD button to send the letter on to others using AOL, there's a good chance the pictures will arrive intact.

If you forward the same letter to users of other services, however, the pictures may or may not arrive intact. If, instead of clicking your Forward button, you use Edit>Select All to highlight the entire contents of the letter and then use Edit>Copy to copy everything, followed by using Edit>Paste to put the contents into a new, blank outgoing email, the pictures are more likely to arrive without problems.

Pasting everything into a new letter also works well with other email clients, including AOL Mail and Outlook Express. Outlook Express users should also click on Format>Send Picture with Message.

Another way to help ensure that the pictures arrive is to send an image-bearing letter as an attachment to a new, outgoing letter. Juno and Hotmail do this automatically when you click the FORWARD button. When clicking FORWARD in Yahoo Mail you will be given the choice of sending the letter as "in-line text" or as an "attachment." Choose the latter if the email contains pictures.

Outlook Express, however, offers no such choice when its FORWARD button is clicked — but clicking on Message will display a Forward As Attachment option.

If the pictures you are sending are not an integral part of the messages (as in a greeting card) it's better to send them as attachments. Outlook Express offers an Insert>Picture option and an Attach (paper clip icon) option that lets you browse to a picture (or any other kind of file). If you choose Insert, the picture will arrive positioned in the message wherever your cursor was when making the choice. If you choose Attach, the picture will not only arrive as an attachment, it will also show up at the bottom of the text message (at least, when received by another Outlook Express user).

Another thing that can cause enclosed or attached pictures to be dropped along the way is the file size limitation of the recipient's ISP. However, this has become less of a problem since most web-based email services now give you at least 2 megabytes of free storage space.

More PC Help & Other Free Programs Can Be Found Here.

© - Donald Ray Edrington - All Rights Reserved

Contact Information on Don Can Be Found Here.

Questions or comments can be sent to: ComputerTutorTeam@gmail.com

Custom Search Top of Page

Free Newsletter
If you would like to receive our weekly newsletter just send an email to Mary Hanson at: ComputerTutorTeam@gmail.com.
  There are no fancy sign-up forms – just mention newsletter in the subject line of your email.
  We've been sending out this PC Help Newsletter since 1994, and it contains no advertising of any kind – just useful computer tips.
  Furthermore, your email address is safe with us – we don't share it with anyone under any conditions whatsoesver.

Mission Statement
Privacy Policy