Outlook 2021 sent e-mails show attachment icon without any attachments.

Question

I recently switched over my Outlook 2021 e-mail account from POP3 to IMAP since I'm now using a 2nd desktop computer (running Windows 11) in addition to my original laptop (running Windows 10).

In doing the switching over and setting up IMAP mail accounts on both machines, I had a bit of a learning curve in how to set things up, but I dealt with and figures these out via some self-help and some additional reading.

One thing I cannot figure out relates to how my e-mail signature on both machines (an HTML signature with image + hyperlink on image) will show the attachment icon on sent e-mails even if these e-mails have no attachments.

In addition, when the computer I didn't send the e-mail from syncs the sent folder, there is no attachment icon shown on the machine syncing any sent e-mails.

I tested not using a signature and I can confirm that the attachment icon was not present on e-mails sent without a signature that contains an image.

This is the same signature I was using in my POP3 e-mail setup, and I never experienced this issue. In fact on the Windows 10 laptop, I didn't even need to create a signature since it automatically still picked up the signature used when I was using a POP3 mail account.

Does anyone know why this happens, and how I can create an e-mail signature that doesn't cause the above behaviour?

Windows Build/Versions : Windows 10 22H2 19045.2728 + Windows 11 22H2 22621.1413

Answer 1

Hi @OverDose ,

Welcome to our forum!

According to your description, i notice that after you add an image in the signature and send emails with the signature to others, the image become an attachment. As i know, when a message contains embedded images, Outlook will not show the paperclip icon or list these images as separate attachments. Please refer to this article and try the suggestion:

How can I prevent the image to show as an attachment/show paperclip icon?

Hope the above help!

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Answer 2

@Darw!n - The intention was never to have my e-mail signature, since I have always had my signatures locally on the laptop that's running Windows 10. I would edit my signature as many times as I need even during an MS Suite or OS fresh install, I never battled with having e-mails which have a signature creating the attachment icon even when there's no attachment.

All I've ever done is use what's on my system already, or else copy from previously sent e-mails and paste the signature as a new signature and it would work.

This issue started when I switched over to IMAP, and I don't have an issue storing my signatures locally, but I don't want to have to deal with all my sent e-mail having the attachment icon even when there a no attachments.

I hope this clarifies my issue, and I'd still be keen to find a workaround for this annoyance.

As for your suggestion, I will consider this. However, I have already made a full backup when doing the changeover to IMAP, and I intend on making regular e-mail backups. I do believe that my hosting provider also backs up their servers, in the event that there is an issue. Thanks all the same. I

Answer 3

The signatures are locally created in Outlook 2021 on each device used for outgoing email. As far as I'm concerned you cannot have the signature set as an embed functionality directly in the mail server. Still, it is worth asking your hosting provider (Microsoft or whoever hosts your IMAP mail server). I spoke to mine, hostcolor.com and ask them if is it possible to do so. I was suggested to use local signatures for the email account on each computer.

Important Suggestion!

A possible solution for you is to switch back to POP3 and use the option "Leave a copy on the server". This will keep your email messages on the server for a certain period of time - 1 week or 1 month for example - even if they are downloaded on one of your computers. The good thing about POP3 is that in case of a failure of the mail server and loss of that, you'll still have the emails stored locally in your Outlook. If you use POP3 email on 2 computers with the setting "Leave a copy on the server", then you will have a local backup of your email data on 2 different devices. So, in case of a data loss on the server, you will not lose your email correspondence. With the IMAP, in an event of data loss on the server, you'd lose your emails (especially if you reconfigure your Outlook with a new empty IMAP server). So, it is important to consult with the entity that provides the email hosting service.