How to Fix Cannot see Pictures in Outlook email

Read this post to learn how to do what you need to if Outlook is blocking you from seeing images in your email messages. A very common issue has been happening with Outlook users not being able to see images embedded in emails.

The picture is replaced with a red cross and the following text:

To download the pictures, right-click on this link. Outlook disabled the automatic download of this image from the Internet to help protect your privacy.

They are annoyed because they cannot see visuals, which is quite frustrating, especially for areas where one needs to understand the context or message of the email. If you are also troubled by this hassle, then you have come to the right spot. In this article, we shall learn what is causing the issue and how to get it fixed.

I really do not get why Outlook e-mails do not show photos.

Some of the common reasons images do not display in Outlook emails include: Outlook, by default, blocks automated image downloading as a means of preventing tracking and instead asks for manual permission to display images. Outlook will not be able to recover the image when the image file is no longer available on the server or if the link to it is broken. Images will not display if a firewall or proxy server is blocking the display of external content. This is frequently the case for clients who access emails through a secure or corporate network.

How to fix Outlook email attachments not showing

To troubleshoot the problem of images not appearing in Outlook emails, follow these steps:

Enable downloading of images automatically

Enter registry and identify BlockHTTPimages setting

Modify the location of Temporary Files of IE

Try it carefully.

1. First enable automatic image download.

By default, Outlook turns off the automatic downloading of images within email messages for protection. This disables tracking pixels that would otherwise tell when and from where an email was opened.

You can also permit the download of pictures if you know you trust the sender. The setting is supposed to block tracking of your behavior through the embedded images by email senders.

After you open the email, click on the barred image, and then select Download Pictures in the context menu opened. Image download will be enabled for this particular email.

If you want to always download pictures from trusted senders, here's how:

From the File menu select Trust Center > Trust Center Settings. Under the section Automatic Download.

Neither "Don't download pictures in encrypted or signed HTML email messages" nor "Don't download pictures automatically in standard HTML email messages or RSS items" should be checked.

Furthermore, graphics will display only in plain text emails. To revert to HTML or Rich Text email format, select the Format Text tab located on the Outlook toolbar. Both these formats ensure photos and other visual components display correctly in your email.

2. BlockHTTPimages value in the registry should be modified.

In addition, even when the end-user has attempted to download the photos by right-clicking the message placeholder and selecting the download option, a second error message is still presented to users, similar to, "The linked image cannot be displayed." It is possible that the file has been removed, renamed, or relocated. Check your URL. Ensure the file and location are correct.

This will be the error if a picture file has been deleted, renamed, or moved on the email server, or the link to the picture is wrong or broken. Or on the contrary, this may indicate that your network or system settings prevent access to a source of an image.

To solve this problem a particular registry variable, BlockHTTPimages will be modified. You can configure your e-mail client to automatically download and display pictures from the internet (HTTP sources) or not.

Incorrectly editing the Windows Registry has grave and negative implications for an operating system. If you do proceed with editing the registry first backup it just in case things go terribly wrong.

Press the Win + R button. In the Run console, enter regedit and press Enter. If User Account Control prompts you, click Yes.

Next, in the Registry Editor window, browse to the following location:

Current User Microsoft Office Common

where is the path to your version of Outlook, for which corresponds to the current version, such as 16.0 for all versions of Outlook up through Outlook 2021.

Double-click the BlockHTTPimages DWORD and give it a value of '0' In other words, right-click and then click Delete When prompted to confirm the delete action in a dialog, click Yes You will need to exit the Registry Editor and restart Outlook to keep your changes.

To restore the default Outlook behavior and allow it to automatically download images from the HTTP site, delete the BlockHTTPimages key from the registry or set it to '0'.

3. Change the location of Internet Explorer Temporary files

Some folks fixed the problem by changing the location of temporary files inside IE:.

Despite the ever-increasing usage of Microsoft Edge, and the fact that Internet Explorer is deprecated, Outlook still uses the same old Temporary Internet Files folder structure to temporarily cache email attachments. IE Mode exists only in Windows 11 and 10 to ensure compatibility.

If you want to allow your antivirus application to scan an attachment prior to opening it in Outlook, the application will save a temporary version of the file in the SecureTemp folder in the Temporary Internet Files directory. Here is the path:

The Outlook file is at C:UsersAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsINetCacheContent.

Outlook cannot access the SecureTemp folder if that directory's default location has been corrupted, its permissions are wrong, or the disk is full. This may be why the red cross icon displays where images cannot show up correctly.

If you want to resolve issues with paths, you do this by informing Internet Explorer-and hence, Outlook-where to put the temporary files by changing the location of these temporary files.

Let me guide you!

Outlook does not display images of the contacts

'Show user photos when available' Outlook has this option specifically under File > Options > People. If a user disables that, Outlook will not show photographs of the contact stored on either the server or inside the details of the contact. Enabling this option allows photographs to appear next to the contact in email and in the address book.

In Outlook, if using the cached Exchange mode with outdated information of your profile, pictures may fail to load. You must temporarily disable the Outlook cached mode, reopen, and enable it again for refreshing the photos.

Also, the contact pictures disappear when Outlook can't synchronize with an Exchange server or Microsoft 365. Try a Send/Receive > Update Folder forcing a server sync.

The desktop app of Outlook.com, and also Outlook.com don't allow attaching files so as to send them by email.

How do I have Outlook showing images?

Check your network settings to ensure they are not set to prevent the downloading of external pictures. Modify the proxy and or firewall settings accordingly. Unless you direct Outlook to download pictures, they will not appear in Outlook. If you want to see those pictures simply right click on the placeholder and select "Download Pictures." Or you can modify your settings for trusted senders.

The steps above should help you troubleshoot any issues with images displaying in your Outlook email.