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Old 9 Sep 2008, 06:01 AM   #1
rockwoodpatrici
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inserting images

I cannot figure out how to insert an image in an outgoing message. Can you help?
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Old 9 Sep 2008, 06:58 AM   #2
zhak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rockwoodpatrici View Post
I cannot figure out how to insert an image in an outgoing message. Can you help?
If the image exists on the web:
  • you must be in HTML mode, not text mode. On the HTML editor toolbar, find the icon that says Insert/Modify Image or Insert/Edit Image. Then you can insert an image by entering its URL in the dialog box that pops up.
If the image exists on your computer, you have two options:
  • upload it to the web, and do the above;
  • use an email client.
For an email client, I use Thunderbird. You can just drag the picture into your message.

And welcome to the EMD forums.
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Old 13 Sep 2008, 11:49 PM   #3
AnneKalo
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I seem to be asking the same question but not really sure what you mean by using Thunderbird to insert an image into the Fastmail message. Are you saying that I have to download the browser Thunderbird and open Fastmail in that browser and then I would be able to drag and drop images into my e-mail in Fastmail???

What about if the images are on a flash drive???

I may be understanding all this totally wrong but that is what I am looking to do - insert images into my e-mails that I am sending through Fastmail. Is there a way or a work-around??

Thanks.
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Old 14 Sep 2008, 12:14 AM   #4
CyberSmurf
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnneKalo View Post
... Are you saying that I have to download the browser Thunderbird and open Fastmail in that browser and then I would be able to drag and drop images into my e-mail in Fastmail???
...
No, Thunderbird is a "client". Outlook Express is a client.


To insert an image in Fastmail webmail, the image has to exist on the web, e.g. ..
. . . http://www.emaildiscussions.com/emaildiscussions.gif


When composing in Fastmail webmail click on the "Edit as html" link on the right side of your screen.

Last edited by CyberSmurf : 14 Sep 2008 at 12:51 AM.
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Old 14 Sep 2008, 01:30 AM   #5
xmailer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CyberSmurf View Post
No, Thunderbird is a "client". Outlook Express is a client.
To clarify somewhat further, in case AnneKalo may not be fully conversant with the terminology, Thunderbird isn't a browser, but rather it's an email program (aka "client") which resides on your computer (as is Outlook Express), serving as an alternative to sending/receiving mail through the Fastmail webmail interface.

While the method previously described will work if you're able to upload the image somewhere online to which you're able to link via HTML code in your message, another possibility, particularly if you aren't able to use a "local" client (say, if you use a public computer or one on which you're not authorized to install or use an email program), is a portable version of the Thunderbird email program which you could carry on the same flash drive which holds your image(s).

If this sounds like a practical alternative to you, since I'm not a Thunderbird user myself, someone else here may likely be able to more easily direct you to where to download the program and possibly answer any questions you may have about how to use it.

Edit: From a quick search, here's one source of further information on the portable Thunderbird program, with a download link:

http://portableapps.com/news/2007-08...rtable_2.0.0.6

(I might add, in case you may have any concerns about it, although this particular link was obtained from a quick search, I do have prior experience with this portableapps.com site, having downloaded other portable programs from it before, and it seems to be somewhat well-known and generally regarded as a "safe" download site.)

Last edited by xmailer : 14 Sep 2008 at 01:44 AM.
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Old 3 Oct 2008, 09:28 PM   #6
andretchen
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Simple workaround to imbed images in emails

Using fastmail in its web interface:

1, Make sure you are in HTML mode, and compose the text of your email as usual

2. Post your image on a publicly available but private/hidden website, I recommend Google photos aka Picasa albums

3. Leave the cursor where you want to insert your photo, and switch to "raw html".

4. Looking at your photo in your Google album, choose "Large 800px" in the "Embed image link", and copy that link ( click on <table size>="width auto .. and copy to your clipboard, ie right click, 'copy')

5 Paste that code snippet into your raw html message
6 Click on "Preview" to check how your email will look like
7 Send - Voila !

More details
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a- To help you test & practice, here's one example of the raw html in step 4 you can use (copy and paste as is)

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lj1RVubAHil1WbUdd45wRg"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/atchen/RyDe7Ge30WI/AAAAAAAAADU/Y8s5VRHRzLA/s800/IMG_0703.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/atchen/Snapshots02">Snapshots</a></td></tr></table>

b- for Step 1, in order to see the "raw html' option you have to click on "advanced" ..

c- for Step 3, you can see where to leave your cursor by locating your words amidst the html jumble .. in between two <br /> is fine

Last edited by andretchen : 3 Oct 2008 at 09:48 PM. Reason: Example photo raw html added, details for step 1
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Old 4 Oct 2008, 04:57 AM   #7
zhak
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andretchen, what you have described is not embedding, but simply inserting a link to a image on the web, as listed as an option in post #2 above.

The difference:

Embedded images are part of the email. A recipient has a copy of the image once they have received the message. Some clients/services show it as part of the message and also attached to the message, for ease of download.

Linked images display in an email message during compose and reading, but because they are not part of the email, they can only be viewed as long as the image exists at the linked location. If the sender deletes the image from the web location, the image will no longer appear when the recipient opens that email again. Of course, they have the option of downloading the image while they can see it.
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Old 4 Oct 2008, 05:36 AM   #8
xmailer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zhak View Post
Linked images display in an email message during compose and reading, but because they are not part of the email, they can only be viewed as long as the image exists at the linked location. If the sender deletes the image from the web location, the image will no longer appear when the recipient opens that email again. Of course, they have the option of downloading the image while they can see it.
Also, of course, some people may, at least sometimes, like to read their email from a client when they're not online, in which case they won't be able to see the image without going online even if it is still at the original location. But while I've never "embedded" images in an email myself (that I can remember), I can imagine preferring actually embedding the image for that reason as well.

Although I would generally prefer simply attaching it/them in most cases, which has the same advantages plus that of being able to send the message the same way from virtually any client or webmail. But of course, that's beside the point here that some people have their reasons for preferring to embed them, and I can imagine that having its purposes or advantages in some cases.
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Old 4 Oct 2008, 05:45 AM   #9
andretchen
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Embedding images -

Quote:
Originally Posted by zhak View Post
andretchen, what you have described is not embedding, but simply inserting a link to a image on the web, as listed as an option in post #2 above.

The difference:

Embedded images are part of the email. A recipient has a copy of the image once they have received the message. Some clients/services show it as part of the message and also attached to the message, for ease of download.

Linked images display in an email message during compose and reading, but because they are not part of the email, they can only be viewed as long as the image exists at the linked location. If the sender deletes the image from the web location, the image will no longer appear when the recipient opens that email again. Of course, they have the option of downloading the image while they can see it.
Ah - super - that 's right - thanks for the clarification - past results for me had been a mixed bag until this method worked for sure all the time. Actually I had even tried dragging images (from the web, on a new browser instance) and it did work, but not always. Oh, it was also reported by receivers that the image was missing, probably because jpeg attachments were disabled in their email (corporate) services, tho downloads from the web are OK, so that is why I figured that second method was more reliable.
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Old 4 Oct 2008, 05:54 AM   #10
zhak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xmailer View Post
Also, of course, some people may, at least sometimes, like to read their email from a client when they're not online, in which case they won't be able to see the image without going online even if it is still at the original location.
That's right some people are not continually online. I keep forgetting that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xmailer View Post
Although I would generally prefer simply attaching it/them in most cases, which has the same advantages plus that of being able to send the message the same way from virtually any client or webmail. But of course, that's beside the point here that some people have their reasons for preferring to embed them, and I can imagine that having its purposes or advantages in some cases.
Good manners suggest that there are four basic options:
  • Provide a single link to multiple images.
    • You want to share your vacation photos with family and friends, send them a link to a single webpage, do not insert a link to each image in the message and certainly do not attach or embed the images.
  • Insert a link for each image into your message.
    • Ok if a few small images, and if expected by the recipient. This is how most email ads are formatted.
  • Attach a single or small number of images.
    • If they have been requested, and the size of the email has been discussed in advance.
  • Embed a small number of small images at certain locations amidst the text if necessary for understanding.
    • Such as equations or images of dialog boxes if explaining a math problem or computer software setup. Again, as expected or requested.
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Old 4 Oct 2008, 06:15 AM   #11
zhak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andretchen View Post
Ah - super - that 's right - thanks for the clarification - past results for me had been a mixed bag until this method worked for sure all the time.
By it's nature it won't work all the time, but it's just that you haven't had issues, yet.

Quote:
Originally Posted by andretchen View Post
Actually I had even tried dragging images (from the web, on a new browser instance) and it did work, but not always. Oh, it was also reported by receivers that the image was missing, probably because jpeg attachments were disabled in their email (corporate) services, tho downloads from the web are OK, so that is why I figured that second method was more reliable.
Images can be blocked by a variety of means, whether they are attached or linked. While messages with true embedded images may get past these guards, the message itself may be held up because the images cannot be stripped from the message.
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Old 4 Oct 2008, 06:31 AM   #12
xmailer
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Originally Posted by zhak View Post
That's right some people are not continually online. I keep forgetting that.
That's probably somewhat easier to remember for us primitives still on dialup (presumably a small, dying species soon to be extinct ). But now that I think of it, that's probably one reason I originally gradually abandoned email clients and went to webmail exclusively in the first place. As the number of messages (and perhaps the size of some of them as well) gradually began to increase, I got tired of waiting for dozens of new emails to download, of which I might only end up opening a couple any time soon. Whereas, it was actually much faster to just view a list of what was in my Inbox in a webmail interface, without having to download anything more than just that list first. Of course, that was with POP, before IMAP was quite as widely available as it is now, and (at least as far as I know) standard POP clients didn't have provision for downloading just the headers of messages. But of course, this is beside the present point as well....

Quote:
Good manners suggest that there are four basic options:
  • Provide a single link to multiple images.
    • You want to share your vacation photos with family and friends, send them a link to a single webpage, do not insert a link to each image in the message and certainly do not attach or embed the images.
  • Insert a link for each image into your message.
    • Ok if a few small images, and if expected by the recipient. This is how most email ads are formatted.
  • Attach a single or small number of images.
    • If they have been requested, and the size of the email has been discussed in advance.
  • Embed a small number of small images at certain locations amidst the text if necessary for understanding.
    • Such as equations or images of dialog boxes if explaining a math problem or computer software setup. Again, as expected or requested.
Pretty much agree on all points. In fact, I don't like it much at all when someone sends me 20 or 30 or more (sometimes LARGE) images attached to a single email. Fortunately that doesn't happen too often, but for that reason, if I wanted to send someone that many images at once, I'd probably either break them into a smaller number attached to two or more messages (if I was pretty sure they actually wanted copies of all the images), otherwise (and probably more likely in most cases), I'd just send them a link to an online album, which is easy enough to do with so many services providing convenient facilities for that purpose these days, many of them free.

But although, as I said, I can't recall ever doing it myself, I can understand the advantage of embedding images in some cases, where they "fit" in the context of the message, as in the examples you've suggested.
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Old 4 Oct 2008, 08:11 AM   #13
hadaso
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Nowadays email software (such as FastMail's webmail client) block linked images by default (but not attached images) for privacy reasons - accessing the linked resource provides info about the recipient (that the recipient exist, recipient's IP address, user agent etc.).

But then if you do use linked images why not host them on FastMail's file storage?

If you are user@fastmail.tld (or it's an alias of yours) you can create a "website" user.fastmail.tld/linkedimages and point it at one of your folders and then if you put there baby.jpeg it can be accessed as http://user.fastmail.tld/linkedimages/baby.jpeg or if you want a thumbnail you can use something like http://user.fastmail.tld/linkedimages/baby.jpeg?variant=thumb (or get other sizes using other variant, such as tiny, tiny2, tiny3, small, small2, medium, medium2, large, raw and perhaps some more that I don't know about). See here.
(There are also a faq page and a wiki page).

Last edited by hadaso : 4 Oct 2008 at 08:18 AM.
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Old 13 Jun 2017, 11:20 PM   #14
andretchen
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Embedding images - how to make them left aligned>

With the new FM interface the default for inserting images is that they are now centered.

For signatures, how would you have them left aligned?

I'm no HTML expert at all, but I saw that I could copy and paste an HTML table with a linked image. However how would you do that with an image which is local, ie embedded in the email, not referred to via a link ?
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Old 13 Jun 2017, 11:58 PM   #15
BritTim
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Quote:
Originally Posted by andretchen View Post
With the new FM interface the default for inserting images is that they are now centered.

For signatures, how would you have them left aligned?

I'm no HTML expert at all, but I saw that I could copy and paste an HTML table with a linked image. However how would you do that with an image which is local, ie embedded in the email, not referred to via a link ?
I have not tried this in a long time, but several years ago I tried using a base64 encoded image (use Google to find the gory details). This appeared to work, but a security process called defanging ended up commenting out the image. I think this is because a similar technique allows base64 javascript to be embedded.

If you decide to try this, let us know whether it now works.
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