Copy & Paste not copying images new outlook

Question

I am unable to copy an entire message, including images and paste them into a new email, where I have been able to before. I use Microsoft Office via desktop (Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2021) My settings are HTML (my choices are HTML or plain text only) and my default is always "keep source formatting" for cut copy and paste in compose and reply.

We have several emails to different clients that require their logo so we keep a copy of the email and copy and paste it to a new email that we send out. I have attempted it from Word as well as Outlook and neither will carry over the images. I have to add picture or copy and paste each image to the new email I am creating in order for it to show up, and with 20+ emails per day having to do this, and remembering to do this where I could just copy and paste before is frustrating. Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi @Karenda, 

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.    

Based on your description, copying a full email into a new message in New Outlook brings over the text and formatting but drops the inline images. I truly understand and appreciate the effort you have taken to test this in both Outlook and Word and to outline your workflow so clearly. 

This occurs because New Outlook uses a modern web editor that handles clipboard data differently than classic Outlook and Word. When you select the entire message, some inline images are treated as embedded resources that are not packaged into the cross‑app clipboard, so only text and styles are pasted. This behavior is why the same action previously worked in classic Outlook and can appear inconsistent between apps. 

Below are a few practical solutions that could best fit your current needs:  

1/ Use Forward to preserve inline images, then copy from the compose window 

• Open the original email that already shows the images. 
• Select Forward. This opens the content in the same New Outlook editor and keeps the images. 
• In the Forward draft press Ctrl A then Ctrl C to copy everything. 
• Open a new message and press Ctrl V to paste. 
• Edit the recipients and subject as needed. 

This keeps the images because the copy and paste happens within the same editor. 

2/ Create a reusable signature that contains the logo block 

• Go to Settings gear in New Outlook. 
• Select Mail then Compose and reply then create a new signature. 
• Insert the client logo into the signature and add any standard text you reuse. 
• When composing a new email select Insert signature and choose that signature to insert the full block with the image. 

You can create separate signatures per client so the logo and wording are inserted in one step. 

3/ Use Outlook on the web or classic Outlook for the copy and paste step 

• Open your mailbox in a browser at outlook.office.com and sign in. 
• Open the source message and select Forward then copy the content and paste into a new message in the browser. 
• If you prefer the desktop experience select Switch to classic Outlook from the New Outlook title bar then perform the copy and paste in classic Outlook where embedded images are handled by the Word editor. 

Many customers use this approach for message blocks that must retain logos. 

4/ Contact IT administrator 

Since your account is managed by your organization, please contact your IT administrator to review your permissions and policies. If the issue persists after these checks, ask your IT administrator to submit a support request directly to Microsoft Support team.      

They can raise a support ticket by visiting: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn 

As community moderators, we appreciate your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.    

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If you have any updates regarding the issue, please feel free to share them with me.      

Thank you for your patience and your understanding.

I look forward to continuing the conversation. Wishing you a smooth rest of your day. 

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Answer 2

It looks like forward is going to be the only solution, which is a nuisance as we have to delete all prior email stamps. I think the way the new outlook was created vs the classic has had a lot of issues and is not as user friendly with the exception of the design unfortunately, but I appreciate your fast response, explanation and solutions.