Cannot display remote images in HTML messages

Hi all.

This has been a problem since Tiger for me and ironically, is affecting me on two macs (although I sync the two together, so whatever the problem is, I'm guessing it's been copied to both locations). Here's the deal:

I cannot display images in my messages. If I click the checkbox (under viewing in mail prefs) "display remote images in HTML messages" I get the same behavior as if it is unchecked. I've tried checking and unchecking to no avail. My guess is a corrupted preference file, but I don't know which one. If I delete my mail prefs, will I need to do anything with regards to my mailboxes etc? I have over 3GB of offline mail, all filed away into hundreds of folders and do NOT want to mess with that.

Any suggestions are most appreciated. I'd love to see my images again without clicking on the "load images" button for EVERY email.

Thanks,

Rob

MacBook Air 1.6GHz, iMac 24", Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Jul 11, 2008 12:30 PM

23 replies

May 6, 2009 1:38 AM in response to xrob

I'm in the club. Only blue bricks and mails look bad.
I will also check thunderbird today. I need to see what I send my customers.

Please Apple do something about it!

May 18, 2009 3:46 AM in response to Maffibaer

It could be engender from a firewall filter or, for example, a Little Snitch filter

marikavs

Level 1

0 points

May 18, 2009 5:28 PM in response to Giovanni Rava

Thank you for responding Giovanni! Could you possibly go into a bit more detail, e.g. what filters specifically to check in the firewall and in Little Snitch.
I don't have the MacBook with me at the moment, but I'm looking forward to maybe being able to solve this vexing problem when I get back to it. What you're suggesting sounds reasonable indeed. Right now I'm using someone else's Mac mini running Tiger (10.4.11) which has neither Little Snitch nor the "super secure" settings in the firewall I have at home - and the images render just fine in Mail (I have my own Account on this machine.)
I just realized, though, that it is an older version of Mail (Version 2.1.3 (753.1)) Perhaps, Leopard permitting, one could reinstall an older version of Mail...

May 20, 2009 10:32 AM in response to marikavs

Sorry, but I don't know exactly what filters could be responsable.
I simply noticed that when I turned Little Snitch off, I was able again to see the images in the mail message 😉

Jun 2, 2009 3:26 AM in response to marikavs

This problem was driving me nuts too, it was a problem with Little Snitch

In preferences under mail - Deny TCP connections to port 443 was on. I just unchecked this and it's working fine! Lovely!

marikavs

Level 1

0 points

Jun 2, 2009 10:46 AM in response to frankensteinnn

WOW! Lovely, indeed. Thank you frankensteinnn! With mine it was port 80, but I suspect no port should be denied for Mail. I can't begin to guess why this occurred - I certainly don't remember denying anything for Mail... I would suggest that anybody with this problem who is also running Little Snitch check Mail settings. The simplest way to do so is to fire up the Little Snitch Configuration app and, if you have lots of Rules, type in Mail in the Search field.

leschnei

Level 1

11 points

Jun 17, 2009 5:27 AM in response to xrob

I am not using Little Snitch or any other third party firewall filter but I'm still getting the dreaded blue question mark. I have 'Display remote images in HTML messages' checked and under 'get info' for Mail, I have the MailWebPlugIn.bundle plung-in checked. The question marks only show up in emails from one person (my husband!). If I view the mail on my iPhone instead of my MacBook Pro, the picture show up perfectly. I'm stumped. Any suggestions?

xrob Author

Level 2

297 points

Jun 17, 2009 7:29 AM in response to leschnei

Interesting tip on the Little Snitch filter. I am using that product and thought this was the solution, but I have no "deny" rules and, as such, this wasn't my issue. No problems on my iPhone with the same emails, but both my iMac and laptop (which are sync-ed together) suffer from this issue. Anyone else come up with anything?

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Cannot display remote images in HTML messages