After macOS Monterey 12.0.1 update my mail messages do not display any images

Thanks VT, I'll try that.

There's a string on this topic at the Avast forum website. I'd post an url but I think that's forbidden; I found it by web-searching for "avast not working on M1 Monterey." Avast says they're working on it. Odd, though, that people are pointing at the email shield, not the web shield. Time will tell.

I believe it to be a problem with Avast. I changed the preferences in the program (see above) and it worked. Upon relocation to my office (restart of course) it reverted back to the same inability to use Mail properly.

I am not comfortable with turning off Avast. It is pretty much mandated by IT at my university.

My iPhone and iPad work fine with Mail. So does the iCloud site. It is just strange that Mail 15.0 and Monterey are affected on my computer (from Avast) and Safari with iCloud on the same Mac are fine.

So upgraded to Monterey 12.1 from Big Sur. I get this 'error' message at the top of each email. I have selected the Protect Mail Activity for the privacy benefits. Clearly a bug? I have the equivalent Protect Mail on my iOS 15 devices and the emails do load correctly. Something is inconsistent here.

On my Mac I have no VPN or antivirus software.

I'm glad so many people solved their problem by disabling or removing Avast or Kaspersky or some other antivirus. But I don't have Avast or Kaspersky or any other antivirus and I still have that problem.

Specifically, the problem is that I do want Protect Mail Activity and I want it to load content remotely, but instead I get a message that content can't be loaded remotely and I have to load it myself, where the sender can see that I did it, so I'm not protected.

There must be another factor, not antivirus, that's causing the problem.

marty39 wrote:

Does this help me if I don't have a VPN at all?

No. In my case the problem is happening only when I use the VPN (Express VPN in my case but other services are also interfering as reported by other posters). I would think that if I didn't have a VPN app I haven't seen the problem at all.

Does it mean that all I have to do is turn on the macOS firewall? If so, what firewall options should I have?

In my case I have always had the application firewall turned on under settings without any special configuration, but I don't think turning the firewall on or off will help in your case as you aren't using a VPN.

Or does it mean that I have to have a VPN installed but not turn it on? Does it have to be Express VPN? Would a free VPN work?

You don't need to have any VPN installed. Maybe check if you have other security apps installed that could be interfering with Protect Mail Activity (e.g., antivirus).

Thunderbird handles this in a better way -- for each message, you can allow loading images from multiple options, like a specific email, the entire domain, all domains used in that email, etc. That way I can allow automatic image loading for a newsletter I want (and only have to do it once), or from a mailing list from an online store that I'm OK with tracking my activity, but not for random spam. Or I could allow it for an entire domain (like my employer who sends many internal emails with images).

It's fully private by default, but offers a much easier way to tailor it to your needs. The only issue is that it doesn't sync across devices -- Apple should just steal the idea, store your choices in iCloud so it syncs, and they'd have the perfect solution.

I read Apple's answer and I have to agree that it is simply a bad design that needs to be fixed in the next update. I never had this issue before and in my case I only have the hide my IP box checked. So it means that I have to give up my privacy completely or I click on each email I receive... when you live in an internet restrictive country that makes it an interesting choice to make! This is so ridiculous that it even blocks contents in emails from my contacts! Really bad design - Please fix this asap!!

I can’t uncheck Hide IP address because it’s grayed out.

In Apples' efforts for Client Privacy, Protection and cutdown on Tracking - this feature was built into Monterey. That is not to say one Must use the feature if you do not what it. That option is still left to the User.

There is room for refinements and if there will be - may appear in future updates to Monterey.

All above is IMHO.

Thank you for your instructions but despite following them and re-index all the mail accounts. In fact I removed all the accounts and again created them however there is no change in the issue. Mail does not show the content or body of the mail even if I click on it to be opened separately. Apple Support to please comment on the issue and help resolve the issue.

I have the same problem, "Load Content Directly" appearing for every email with images. However, in preferences, both "Protect Mail Activity" and "Block All Remote Content" are not checked.

Any other options to get rid of this unwanted button click on every email I open?

I have tried to turn off the privacy controls in mail. It did not work. Mail is trying to connect to the iCloud server (dialogue box shows it toggling).

I cannot gain access to my attached files sent to me in Mail. I can use MS Outlook to see them.

I have been using Mail for years.. and is seems the Montery update has broken it. I don't want to have to connect via Safari and iCloud to see the documents I need access to.

If there is a way to fix Mail and iCloud, I would love to find out. I need Mail!

Completely unrelated mathematical topics don't belong in this discussion. Personally, however, I have no feeling about the abstract number 12.1. But if it means that macOS 12.1 will have the Protect Mail Privacy feature fixed so that remote content loads in the background, I'm all for it.

Hint, hint! Are any Apple developers listening?

Thanks for this. I was trying to figure out what i'd changed for the last few days and why they would make this automatic for everyone escapes me. Who wants to click download remote content every time when you receive 100's of emails a day?!?!

I unchecked all three options (Protect Mail Activity, Hide IP Address, Block All Remote Content) and restarted the Mail app. Still get the "Your network preferences prevent content from loading privately" message.

Any other suggestions?