Images Fail to Display in Outlook for a Particular Newsletter

Issue

Images in HTML emails are not displayed in Microsoft Outlook. Instead, a red X placeholder appears where each image should be shown.

This issue may affect specific newsletters or externally formatted HTML emails while other emails continue to display images normally.

Cause

The exact cause is not fully understood. However, Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016 use components of Internet Explorer to render HTML email content.

If the Internet Options setting Warn if changing between secure and not secure mode is enabled, Outlook may fail to display externally hosted images contained within certain emails.

This behaviour is commonly associated with mixed secure and non-secure content, although the specific trigger was not confirmed during testing.

Resolution

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog.


2. Type inetcpl.cpl and select OK.


3. Select the Advanced tab.


4. Scroll down to the Security section.


5. Clear the checkbox labelled Warn if changing between secure and not secure mode.


6. Select Apply, then OK.


7. Close and reopen Outlook.


8. Verify that the email images are now displayed correctly.

Additional Information

This issue was verified on Windows 10 with both Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016.

Because Outlook relies on Internet Explorer rendering components for certain HTML email functionality, changes to Internet Options can affect how email content is displayed.

If the issue persists after disabling the setting, investigate whether the images are being loaded from external websites, redirected between secure and non-secure connections, or blocked by Outlook's automatic image download settings.

Date Created: Tuesday, 24 September 2019, 7:23 PM