How to disable message images in Mail app for all but contacts?

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Level 1

5 points

How to disable message images in Mail app for all but contacts?

I use the Mail app for OS X Mavericks and have been inundated with spam lately. I understand that spam email campaigns can confirm that you have opened their mail (and subsequently continue to send you mail) by image tracking so I would like to disable images from showing for all except my contacts. I don't recall if it was with Mail or another email client I previously used, but I vaguely remember message images not showing by default and requiring you to click a button at the top of the message in order to show the images within it. If possible, I would like to be able to do this for non-contacts.

So my question is: how can I disable images from showing, by default, in messages from non-contacts within the Mail app?

If there is no way to do this, can someone suggest an alternative email client for Mac OS that does allow this? I am willing to change if this feature does not exist within the Mail app.

Thanks for your time.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Jul 27, 2014 4:36 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 27, 2014 5:43 PM in response to Codewyn

Personally, I've never heard of spammers tracking by a contact's image. I think you might be confusing this with the images in the message.

Spammers can do two things to track you.

1) Send an email with a read receipt. Mail doesn't support read receipts

2) Send an email with an embedded image (sometimes called a bug or beacon). When the email is opened, the email software loads the image from the remote server by sending it an HTTP request.

If a message matches the junk mail criteria, then a bar will appear near the top of the message. External images in the message will automatically be disabled, so that spam authors won’t be able to track if you’ve opened the message. To load the images, click the “Load Images” button in the bar, or to mark the message as not junk, select “Not Junk.”

Mail > Preferences > Viewing >Uncheck Display remote images in HTML messages.
Enable Junk filtering in Mail Preferences. Check "sender in in contacts, sender in in previous recipients**, message is addressed using full name.
Use SpamSieve, third party product to filter spam, http://c-command.com/spamsieve/
Keep contacts in your Address Book.
Mark messages as junk to help train the junk filter.
Don't open a message you think is spam. You should be able to see enough of a message in the preview to know if it's spam.

** Open Previous Recipients under Window in the Menu bar. Remove any addresses from spammers.

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Answer 2

Codewyn Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 28, 2014 4:06 PM in response to dianeoforegon

Thank you for the response and detailed workaround. However, I don't find that it sufficiently resolves my issue. There should be a simpler method native to the application to achieve this. Apart from using SpamSieve, I already practice what you recommend but it is not as bulletproof as what I'm describing. Also, I was referring to the message images, not the contact image. Thanks for your time, I will continue looking for an alternative to Mail.

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Answer 3

Feb 16, 2017 5:30 AM in response to Codewyn

In Mac Mail

Select Preferences.
Click on Viewing.
Remove checkmark for Display remote images in email.
Click Save.

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