A Quick Way to manage Outlook email signatures

Jesper Frier

Why is email clients Blocking Picture Download?

Symptom

in-line images

Solutions

Remove image blocking entirely:
- From the Tools menu in Outlook, choose Options
- Select the Security tab
- Click the “Change Automatic Download Settings…” button
- Clear the check box
Add senders or domains to your white list:
- Right click on one of the blocked images
- Select either Add Sender or Add Domain as desired

How it came about

Code:

If you preview or open an e-mail message that contains this kind of an image reference, you may make your computer a target for more spam.

The effect

Leaving the default setting as is will block all HTML images in all email you receive, spam or legitimate. Thus, if you receive an email newsletter, e-catalog, e-alert, email announcement or any other email that contains web-based graphics, the readability of that message will be diminished unless you take action. The default setting in Outlook 2003 can render some emails completely unreadable.
The future

We live in an HTML world. Most surveys show that over 95% of businesses accept HTML email. The default compose mode for Outlook is HTML. The vast majority of companies, including Microsoft, continue to send HTML-based newsletters. As for Anti-spam strategies, major companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and several standards bodies have shifted toward technologies that verify the authenticity of the sender, rather than restricting the content of the email. The bottom line is that, given its incredibly powerful messaging, user interaction and effectiveness, HTML email is here to stay.