Signature images arrive as attachments, or do not show
Why a logo or icon can turn up as an attachment, a paperclip or a blank box for some recipients, how Footer365 sends images, and what you can change.
Signature images can be delivered in two ways, and each has a known side effect in some mail apps. Knowing which one an image uses tells you what is happening and what, if anything, you can change.
How Footer365 sends an image
Each image in the editor has two options, Embed and Host.
| Option | How it travels | What the recipient needs |
|---|---|---|
| Embed (the default) | The image is carried inside the message itself. When Footer365 signs on the way out, each image goes as a separate part of the email that the signature refers to. | Nothing. The image is already in the message. |
| Host | The image stays on Footer365's servers and the signature links to it. | Their mail app downloads it when the message is opened. |
The editor explains the trade-off: Embed the image in the email (kept small so signatures still work), and Host the image online and link to it (full quality, but shows as a broken image in the Outlook on the web compose preview).
Footer365 embeds up to 20 images, and up to 5 MB of images in all, in any one message. Anything past that, and any image that could not be fetched at the moment of sending, goes as a link instead, exactly as if it were set to Host. SVG images are always sent as links, because many mail apps do not show an embedded SVG.
1. Embedded images show as attachments
Some mail apps list an embedded image as an attachment as well as showing it in the signature, or show a paperclip on the message. That is how those apps treat any image carried inside an email, from any sender, and Footer365 cannot change it from the sending side.
What you can do: if this matters for a particular image, such as a large banner, set it to Host. A hosted image is not part of the message, so it cannot appear as an attachment.
2. Images become attachments after a reply from Apple Mail
It is well known that Apple Mail on iPhone, iPad and Mac can turn the images in a quoted message into attachments when someone replies. Your original message was fine. The reply that comes back from them shows your logo as a separate file, often with a name like image001.png.
This happens in the recipient's mail app, after your message has been delivered, and cannot be prevented by the sender. Hosted images avoid it, because there is nothing in the message to turn into an attachment.
3. Images do not show until the recipient allows them
Many mail apps, including Outlook, do not download pictures from the internet until the reader allows it, particularly for a sender they have not seen before. A hosted image shows as an empty box or a download prompt until then.
What you can do: set the images that matter most, usually the logo, to Embed. Embedded images need no download, so they appear straight away.
4. An image shows as broken while writing in Outlook on the web
With the Outlook add-in, a hosted image can show as a broken image in the Outlook on the web compose window. This is expected, as the editor's own note says. The recipient still receives the image correctly.
5. An image is missing for everyone
If an image is missing in every mail app, check the template in the editor: the image address may no longer work, or the image may have been removed from the template. If your portal has an Audit log, a signature sent with images that could not be fetched is recorded there as a warning.
Choosing between them
- Logo and small icons: Embed. They appear at once and stay small.
- Large banners or photos where quality matters: Host, accepting that some readers will need to allow downloads.
- Keep the number of images down. Fewer, smaller images mean fewer attachments in the apps that list them, and a lighter message for everyone.
If adding an image would take the signature over the size the editor allows, the editor switches that image to Host for you and says so.
Related
Still stuck?
Tell us what you were trying to do and what you saw. Include the sender, a recipient and roughly when a message was sent, and we can trace it.