Linked (online) signature images

[Gary Wood]

I'm using Outlook 2013, and have inserted some logos into my signature. The images are stored online, and so are inserted as links, to avoid them being attached to the message. This works fine. However, if I'm not connected to the Internet (e.g. because I'm using 4G and out of a reception area), Outlook crashes when I try to create a new message. Presumbly, this is because it's trying, and failing, to access and display the signature images.

Does anyone know of a solution to this? Is there a way I can locally cache the images so that Outlook will still let me write new messages when I've not got an active Internet connection?

 

[Forum Admin]

Is outlook set to work offline? That *should* prevent outlook from trying to download the image as you compose.

 

[Gary Wood]

Is outlook set to work offline?

I thought that, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

If I'm online, but set Outlook to "Work Offline" and create a new message, it still downloads the images.

If I'm offiline (i.e. my computer isn't connected to any networks), regardless of whether or not "Work Offline" is activated in Outlook, I get the required/expected behaviour: the images appear as red crosses.

However, the problematic scenario is as follows. I'm tethered to my phone's wifi hotspot, so my computer has an active network connection, but my phone is out of a 4G coverage area, so I don't actually have an Internet connection. In this situation, Outlook hangs when I try to create a new message, apparently because it attempts to download the images (I've checked this is the cause by removing the images, and then everything works fine). Setting Outlook to "Work Offline" doesn't solve this problem.

So, for now, I've had to resort to embedding images in my emails -- which is far form ideal because messages show up in my recipients' inboxes as if they have attachments, and the size of every message I send is increased, so I really need a better solution to this.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Ah.. that actually makes sense because it is using the word controls , not outlook, so a new message doesn't understand the concept of offline. I'll see what I can find out.

 

[Gary Wood]

Thanks, Diane. It'll be great if you can find a solution to this. It seems like a bit of an oversight on Microsoft's part that Outlook allows you to used linked images, that then those linked images crash the program when you're offline!

 

[Gary Wood]

Ah.. that actually makes sense because it is using the word controls , not outlook, so a new message doesn't understand the concept of offline. I'll see what I can find out.

Hi again, Diane. I just wondered if you might have had any further thoughts on this, please.