Add a still or animated picture to an Outlook Email

Pictures say a thousand words, so why not save yourself a lot of typing by adding them to your e-mail? Using HTML as your message format in Outlook 2000, you can add still or animated pictures from your local drive, from a network, or from the Internet. And you can add a border around the picture and specify the picture's position within the message body.

Add a picture to an HTML message
1. With the HTML message open, position the insertion point within the message body.
2. On the Insert menu, click Picture.
3. In the Picture source box, type the path to an image on your hard drive, type a URL (address) to an image on the Internet, or click Browse if you need to locate an image. You can use pictures in a variety of formats, including GIF and JPEG.
Specify any other options you want. For Help on an option, click the question mark, and then click the option.
You can change the settings after closing the dialog box. Just click the picture to select it, and then on the Insert menu, click Picture. Or, right-click the picture, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. Change the settings as necessary.

Sending pictures stored on the Internet vs. locally

Depending on where the original picture is stored, Outlook can send a copy of the picture as part of the message or it can include a pointer to the picture. If you enter a path to a picture that's located on your hard disk or on a network, Outlook will automatically store a copy of the picture with the message. That's because the recipients most likely won't have access to these locations, so a pointer wouldn't work for them. However, if you specify a path to a picture that's located on the Internet, Outlook automatically includes a pointer to the picture. That's because your recipients could have access to the Internet and because sending a pointer keeps the message size down. Sending a picture with the message can increase the size of the message significantly and, therefore, slow down the time it takes to send and receive the message.

If your recipients don't have access to the Internet location that the message points to, they'll either see a red X in place of the picture or the alternate text— if you specified any— in the Picture dialog box. If you want, you can send a copy of Internet pictures with the message instead of sending a pointer.

Send a picture stored on the Internet with a message

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
Do one of the following:

If you're using Outlook in the Corporate or Workgroup configuration, select the Send pictures from the Internet check box.
If you're using Outlook in the Internet Only configuration, click Settings, and then select the Send pictures from the Internet with messages check box.
Besides adding pictures, the HTML message format also lets you enhance messages using special designs, formatted text, or a structured layout. For more information, read Create stylish and decorative e-mail in Outlook using HTML.

Note While many popular e-mail programs besides Outlook 2000— such as Outlook 98, Outlook Express 4.0, Eudora 4.0, and Netscape Messenger 4.0— understand HTML messages, some do not. For more information about sending HTML messages, read Choose the best Outlook message format for a recipient.