New to Outlook? There must be something weird you see when logging in for the first time. The default setting of MS Outlook doesn’t show up any image, even social media icon. You will only see an “x” sign to indicate this part contains an image. The reason why Outlook blocks every image in your email is due to privacy and security reasons.

Images in HTML email can require Outlook to download them from a server. According to Outlook, communication with an external server in this way can verify to the sender that your email address is valid. Since your email address is valid, it can be a target of more junk emails. That is why the default setting of Outlook doesn’t automatically download images in standard HTML email.

How to set Outlook to automatically download images

Although the purpose of the default Outlook setting of not automatically downloading images is to protect you from getting junk emails, you might want to change it. Technically, the spam filtering of Outlook is already good enough. Try to send a short email with a new email account (an account you haven’t used to send emails to your account connected to Outlook), chances are it will be sent to the Junk Email folder.

To set Outlook to automatically download every image on an email, first, click the File menu and select Options.

On the appearing window, click Trust Center on the left panel, followed by Trust Center Settings on the right panel.

On the Trust Center window, uncheck the Don’t download pictures automatically in standard HTML email messages or RSS items option and click the OK button on the bottom.

Restart your Outlook and you should see every image on your emails.