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why won't an email load images

On my new iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020 MacOS 10.15.7) sometimes emails won't load images. I tried rebuilding the mailbox and that helped for a few days but the problem returned. This seems like a problem on the new iMac because the same email that most recently wouldn't load there loaded fine on my iPhone and on an older iMac. I tried quitting and restarting Mail and restarting the computer to no effect. Other emails opened ok but some seemed lagged.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 28, 2021 8:59 AM

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Posted on May 30, 2021 6:57 PM

In email preferences, on your iMac, under "Viewing", do you have "Load remote content in message" ticked on or off? Your phone is separate and your old iMac may have this setting different. You may want to turn it on if it's off. If it's on, turn it off, then turn it back on again and see if that works.

7 replies

May 31, 2021 8:24 AM in response to toastosxDC

Now at least I have work-arounds if this happens again. I think your diagnosis of corruption is correct. When I search "how do emails become corrupted" I get


"Causes for Email Corruption

  1. Viruses or other Malicious Software:- In computer system, many viruses can infect and damage the emails and makes them inaccessible.
  2. Terminating System Abnormally:- If system/application is quit abnormally, then emails are prone to get corrupted or damaged."

I vaguely recall Mail hanging around that time so a bug seems most likely to me. Thanks for your time.

May 31, 2021 7:18 AM in response to toastosxDC

No that doesn't seem to be it. I tried your suggestion—more than once but to no effect. "Load remote content in message" was ticked off but I tried turning it on and off. I've archived that email so that if I see possible solutions I can check them out. On the other hand the problem has not repeated with other emails. The problem email still won't load remote content whether or not "Load remote content in message" is ticked off. Puzzling.

May 31, 2021 7:49 AM in response to toastosxDC

Thanks that seems to be the explanation or diagnosis. I forwarded the offending email from my new iMac, where it won't load, and it still wouldn't load but then I forwarded it from my older iMac and then it would load on my new iMac. This was an email sent to an iCloud address and I was also able to open the original at iCloud.com on the new iMac.

So how does that happen? The computer has a wired connection so not a Wifi issue.

why won't an email load images

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