Asked in alt.comp.os.windows-10, but maybe more appropriate here, since
by Windows 10, most may have abandoned WLM:

I'm running:

Windows Live Mail 2012
Windows 10

Is it possible to send pictures inline using WLM, like one could with
Outlook Express?

Thanks.

Boris <boris@invalid.com> wrote:

> Windows Live Mail 2012
> Windows 10
>
> Is it possible to send pictures inline using WLM, like one could with
> Outlook Express?

Been many years since I used WLM. As I recall, one way was to paste in
an image via Ctrl+V. In some image app, you copied the image (Ctrl+C).
Then in the compose window in WLM for a new mail, you positioned the
insert cursor where you want the inline image, and hit Ctrl+V to paste
from the clipboard.

In the toolbar (you may have to elect Show Menu Bar), there isn't Attach
and Insert entries? Attach adds a MIME block with disposition=attch
while Insert adds a MIME block with disposition=inline. The disposition
attribute merely hints to the client where to view the attachment: as a
separate attachment, or inline in the message body. Regardless of the
disposition, the attachment is still just a MIME block inside the
message body. The hint doesn't force the client to do anything. It's
just a hint. The user may configure their client to show no inline
attachments (and just list them with other attached MIME blocks), to
require a click to show inline attachments, or to always show them.
Adding an attachment whether disposition is attached or inline does not
force the recipient to see your message how you composed it.

When the menu bar is displayed, and when composing a new message, click
Insert on the menu, choose Image, and then Inline.

On 11/11/2022 10:09 PM, Boris wrote:
> Asked in alt.comp.os.windows-10, but maybe more appropriate here, since by Windows 10, most may have abandoned WLM:
>
> I'm running:
>
> Windows Live Mail 2012
> Windows 10
>
> Is it possible to send pictures inline using WLM, like one could with
> Outlook Express?
>
> Thanks.

To place an inline picture, the composition of the message
would likely include HTML.

If the tool allows "changing the font", like calibri,
then that's a sign that something other than plaintext
is involved. It implies you're composing in HTML mode.

When in HTML mode, inserting a picture is allowed.
You might see Photo Album in the Ribbon, in the "Insert" section.

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/632pMHpy/image-inline.gif

By looking in where Drafts are stored

C:\users\paul\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Storage Folders\Drafts

I can see the .eml file and inside, it is MIME encoded, and the
PNG image in my test message is BASE64 encoded in there.

The message has a "reference to a CID" and the CID in turn
is part of the header of the PNG MIME section. It's really
not that much different than a regular attachment, except
that the CID reference in the middle of the HTML code,
causes the image to appear right next to the text ("Inline").

Paul

On Fri, 11 Nov 2022 19:09:31 -0800, Boris wrote:
> Asked in alt.comp.os.windows-10, but maybe more appropriate here, since
> by Windows 10, most may have abandoned WLM:
>
> I'm running:
>
> Windows Live Mail 2012
> Windows 10
>
> Is it possible to send pictures inline using WLM, like one could with
> Outlook Express?
>
> Thanks.

On the email compose window, move the input cursor to the desired location
where you want to insert an inline image.

On the toolbar, click on Insert, then click on the Single Photo toolbar
button.

Choose the image file then click OK.

Once inserted, resize the image using one of the small squares in the
corners (not the ones at top/bottom or left/right) by dragging it.

Keep inmind that, inline images and other rich formattings, are only made
possible with HTML email. So, if the recipient's email client application
doesn't support, has disabled HTML email, or heavily sanitize HTML email,
the inline image may be displayed either at the bottom of the message, or as
an file attachment instead.

On 11/11/2022 9:00 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
> Boris <boris@invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> Windows Live Mail 2012
>> Windows 10
>>
>> Is it possible to send pictures inline using WLM, like one could with
>> Outlook Express?
>
> Been many years since I used WLM. As I recall, one way was to paste in
> an image via Ctrl+V. In some image app, you copied the image (Ctrl+C).
> Then in the compose window in WLM for a new mail, you positioned the
> insert cursor where you want the inline image, and hit Ctrl+V to paste
> from the clipboard.

That places the image file in the attachment field rather than inline.

>
> In the toolbar (you may have to elect Show Menu Bar), there isn't Attach
> and Insert entries? Attach adds a MIME block with disposition=attch
> while Insert adds a MIME block with disposition=inline. The disposition
> attribute merely hints to the client where to view the attachment: as a
> separate attachment, or inline in the message body. Regardless of the
> disposition, the attachment is still just a MIME block inside the
> message body. The hint doesn't force the client to do anything. It's
> just a hint. The user may configure their client to show no inline
> attachments (and just list them with other attached MIME blocks), to
> require a click to show inline attachments, or to always show them.
> Adding an attachment whether disposition is attached or inline does not
> force the recipient to see your message how you composed it.
>
> When the menu bar is displayed, and when composing a new message, click
> Insert on the menu, choose Image, and then Inline.

There is no Image to choose on the Insert tab. There is a Photo album,
but then requires a MSFT account to continue, but the Single photo
choice does the trick of placing an image inline.

Thanks.

On 11/11/2022 11:26 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 11/11/2022 10:09 PM, Boris wrote:
>> Asked in alt.comp.os.windows-10, but maybe more appropriate here,
>> since by Windows 10, most may have abandoned WLM:
>>
>> I'm running:
>>
>> Windows Live Mail 2012
>> Windows 10
>>
>> Is it possible to send pictures inline using WLM, like one could with
>> Outlook Express?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> To place an inline picture, the composition of the message
> would likely include HTML.
>
> If the tool allows "changing the font", like calibri,
> then that's a sign that something other than plaintext
> is involved. It implies you're composing in HTML mode.

I do run WLM in HTML mode, and I miss Good Guy <g>.
>
> When in HTML mode, inserting a picture is allowed.
> You might see Photo Album in the Ribbon, in the "Insert" section.
>
>    [Picture]
>
>    https://i.postimg.cc/632pMHpy/image-inline.gif

For me, choosing Photo Album from the Insert tab, pops up a window that
wants me to 'Sing in to Windows Live Mail'. I don't have a MSFT
account, so I stop there. Turns out that selecting Single Photo, while
in the Insert tab, places the browsed to image inline.

>
> By looking in where Drafts are stored
>
>    C:\users\paul\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Storage
> Folders\Drafts
>
> I can see the .eml file and inside, it is MIME encoded, and the
> PNG image in my test message is BASE64 encoded in there.
>
> The message has a "reference to a CID" and the CID in turn
> is part of the header of the PNG MIME section. It's really
> not that much different than a regular attachment, except
> that the CID reference in the middle of the HTML code,
> causes the image to appear right next to the text ("Inline").
>
>    Paul

On 11/11/2022 11:28 PM, JJ wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Nov 2022 19:09:31 -0800, Boris wrote:
>> Asked in alt.comp.os.windows-10, but maybe more appropriate here, since
>> by Windows 10, most may have abandoned WLM:
>>
>> I'm running:
>>
>> Windows Live Mail 2012
>> Windows 10
>>
>> Is it possible to send pictures inline using WLM, like one could with
>> Outlook Express?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> On the email compose window, move the input cursor to the desired location
> where you want to insert an inline image.
>
> On the toolbar, click on Insert, then click on the Single Photo toolbar
> button.
>
> Choose the image file then click OK.

Yes, indeed! As mentioned above, I had also posted this query, along
with the solution, on alt.comp.os.windows-10:

news://news.eternal-september.org:119/XnsAF4D7FFD04E48nospaminvalidcom@88.198.57.247

>
> Once inserted, resize the image using one of the small squares in the
> corners (not the ones at top/bottom or left/right) by dragging it.

I hadn't considered that. Thanks.

>
> Keep inmind that, inline images and other rich formattings, are only made
> possible with HTML email. So, if the recipient's email client application
> doesn't support, has disabled HTML email, or heavily sanitize HTML email,
> the inline image may be displayed either at the bottom of the message, or as
> an file attachment instead.

I hadn't considered that, either. Most of my correspondents unknowingly
use HTML, but just in case, I should inform them what to do if they
can't see the inline images.

This reminds me of long ago when one would see a small box with a red x
inside, because the viewer wasn't using HTML. I do prefer plain text,
but much is missed now-a-days with plain text.

Thanks.

Boris <boris@invalid.com> wrote:

> There is no Image to choose on the Insert tab. There is a Photo album,
> but then requires a MSFT account to continue, but the Single photo
> choice does the trick of placing an image inline.

Just remember that how you compose an HTML e-mail does not mandate that
is how the recipient will see it. You can insert images inline to the
body, but the recipient may see it in a list of attachments, or appended
to the end, like a summary of attachments. Again the disposition
attribute of the MIME block with the encoded text string for the
attachment is just a hint to the recipient's e-mail client on how to
display the attachment.

*All* e-mail gets sent as text whether plain, HTML (which is text with
tags), or with attachments. There is no binary transmission of the
e-mail message. MIME blocks (also text) are needed to carry the
attachments with the message, and MIME blocks are in the body of the
e-mail. You have no control over how recipient will handle those MIME
blocks. You could spend hours tweaking the formatting and content of
your message only to have the recipient discard it all.

Boris <boris@invalid.com> wrote:

> This reminds me of long ago when one would see a small box with a red x
> inside, because the viewer wasn't using HTML. I do prefer plain text,
> but much is missed now-a-days with plain text.

For attachments, they may be presented inline, as a list, shown at the
bottom of the message (if images), or however the recipient configured
their e-mail client. The attachments are /with/ the message as part of
the message, so I don't see why there would be a red X as a placeholder.
I do see why there would be a red X placeholder for a *linked* image;
i.e., an external file somewhere else, like on a server, that the e-mail
client retrieves from there to then show in the local copy of the
message. If the file no longer exists on the server, the server cannot
be reached, or the recipient configured the safety options in their
e-mail client to block externally linked images then there'll will be a
red X placeholder for the image that could not get retrieved.

On Sat, 12 Nov 2022 23:20:48 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:
>
> The attachments are /with/ the message as part of
> the message, so I don't see why there would be a red X as a placeholder.

That's probably to prevent specially crafted images to cause buffer overflow
attack, which existed back in the old days.

"Boris" <boris@invalid.com> wrote

| I hadn't considered that, either. Most of my correspondents unknowingly
| use HTML, but just in case, I should inform them what to do if they
| can't see the inline images.
|

It used to be standard to compose as multi-part, so
if it's HTML there would also be a text version of at
least the text. I used to use my own software to
convert an HTML file to email and add a notice that it
could only be viewed in HTML. That was fun, but whether
or not people would see the HTML was just too undependable.

I still get a lot of multi-part (which I read in plain text)
but it's not always done and when it is, the text version
is often a mess. My doctor and Hoopla streaming, for
example, send me unreadable, massive blocks of text
sprinkled with long encrypted links. It seems to be just
the HTML text without tags, which defeats the purpose.

I think most people read HTML now because most people
get their email as webmail. They don't download real email.
It's always HTML-rendered. So they'll probably see inline
images. What they won't likely see are remote linked images.