Images in messages do not appear

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Revision as of 09:59, 27 January 2006 by Wintogreen (talk | contribs) (updating)
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This article was written for Thunderbird but also applies to Mozilla Suite / SeaMonkey (though some menu sequences may differ).


If you are unable to view images in messages you've received, try the following:

  • For images embedded in messages: make sure that the setting for "View -> Message Body As" is set to either "Original HTML" or "Simple HTML".
  • For images attached to messages: go to the "View" menu and make sure that "Display Attachments Inline" is checked.
  • For remote images: go to "Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> General" and uncheck the box for "Block loading of remote images in mail messages." It is recommended that you keep this checked as your default setting, however, as spammers can use remote images to detect whether you've viewed messages they've sent to you.
  • If you are in offline mode, try changing to online mode: go to "File -> Offline" and make sure that "Work Offline" is not checked. Alternatively, you can click on the connection icon that appears on the Status Bar (normally at the bottom of the window). This is especially important for remote images.
  • Messages marked as Junk are normally "sanitized", meaning that they are displayed without any images or other HTML formatting. To change this behavior, go to "Tools -> Junk Mail Controls", click on the "Settings" tab, and uncheck the box for "When displaying HTML messages marked as Junk, sanitize the HTML".
  • If you are using Thunderbird with a proxy, it is possible that this is the source of the problem. Try adjusting your proxy settings and see if this helps. A few related forum threads are here, here, and here.

If none of that helps verify that a firewall, proxy or ad filter didn't strip the image. Use File -> "Save Message As" to save the message as a HTML file with a .HTML file extension. Then double click on it in windows explorer and see if it displays the image.

Thunderbird only: For an easier way to toggle the settings for viewing messages as HTML/plain text or for blocking remote images, try the Buttons! extension. It gives you buttons that you can add to the toolbar to change these settings at a single click.