Hotmail is one of the oldest and also, one of the most reliable email services today.
That said, you can face temporary glitches in your Hotmail account due to problems with Hotmail itself, or due to issues in your web browser, cache, email client settings, etc.
A common problem is related to Hotmail photos and pictures, as sometimes, images don’t show up in Hotmail.
So, what can you do about this?
Why is Hotmail not showing images and how do you get them to show? Read on, as I answer these questions for you.
Images Not Loading In Hotmail: Possible Causes
Many times, Hotmail will not load or display images, and this can happen for many reasons.
Security
Many email programs don’t display embedded images by default. This is a security measure aimed to reduce your exposure to spam messages, as hackers tend to embed malicious software in images to bypass spam filters. You have to explicitly click on the images to view them.
Downloading/viewing images on Hotmail is not recommended by security experts either unless you trust the sender’s domain.
When you download spam images, it gets recorded in the recipient’s server, and they are likely to send more such messages to you.
Outlook Settings
Some settings in Outlook prevent the email client from displaying images automatically. In particular, look for a setting called “Active View Settings” under the “Reading email” option. To access this setting, click the gear icon next to your username and select “Options”.
Look for an option called “Do you want to see previews?” If the setting is set to “hide”, Outlook will not display Hotmail photos and pictures.
Grouping Messages
Some email clients like Microsoft tend to group messages from the same contact, and in this setting, you can’t view the images in each email. But this problem can be solved by tweaking the settings on your email client.
Note: Learn how to add/edit contacts in our article: How To Add Contacts In Hotmail.
Browser Cookies and Caching Issues
One possible cause of the error is your web browser’s cache that stores copies of frequently-visited content which reduces loading time. But this could also prevent images from showing up in Hotmail.
Now that we’ve seen the possible causes of the problem, let’s look at some possible solutions for the same.
Images Not Loading In Hotmail: Solutions
Below are some solutions that can display Hotmail photos and pictures. That said, note that the default settings are meant to protect you from possible malware, so overriding them could expose you to such malicious software. In general, use your common sense to decide if you want to see images from a particular sender.
Outlook Settings
Earlier, we talked about how certain Outlook settings may not display the images for you. Here’s how you can change these settings, so images are automatically displayed when you open your email.
- Sign in to your Outlook. Make sure it is configured to send and receive emails through your Hotmail account.
- Click the gear icon next to your profile and select “Options”
- Look for an option called “Reading Mail” and from here, navigate to “Active View Settings”
- Navigate to “Do you want to see previews?” Click on the “Show” option
- Click Save and click your inbox to reload it.
Now you should be able to see the images.
Ungrouping Emails
As mentioned earlier, when emails are grouped, images don’t show up in Hotmail. Here’s how you can ungroup the emails.
- Go to Reading Mail and navigate to “Group by Conversation”. Uncheck this option.
- Choose the other option, which is, “Show messages individually”
Exit the Settings and reload your inbox. Every message will be displayed individually and you should be able to see the images now.
Clear Your Cache
Clear your cache and cookies. To do this, simply press CTRL+SHIFT+DEL simultaneously or navigate to your web browser’s setting to clear your browsing data.
These are some ways to display Hotmail photos and pictures.
