# Are there online email systems that let you put pictures into emails like Outlook does? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997 "2009-07-14T16:55:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/1 "2009-07-14T16:55:53Z")
If I’m using Outlook, I can Insert a Picture right in the middle of a message. The online systems I’ve tried make you attach it. In Outlook I can actually copy and paste a chunk of my web page into a letter and it appears a lot like on my web page (margins and spacing odd, but mostly the same) I want to put all my mail online so I can reach it from any computer, but I hate to give up embedded pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/2 "2009-07-14T16:59:02Z")
I was looking at [Gmail Labs](http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/introducing-gmail-labs.html) the other day, and IIRC they have a widget that allows you to use inline images. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/3 "2009-07-14T17:15:09Z")
I just c&p’ed an image right into a gmail message. And I loaded up yahoo, and did the same thing. What online systems were you referring to? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/4 "2009-07-14T17:25:54Z")
Munch how did you copy and paste an image into gmail. It does not work for me using IE, chrome or firefox. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/5 "2009-07-14T17:30:11Z")
I right-clicked an image I wanted to use, went into a gmail message, and hit Cntl-V. I’m checking my settings to see if I have anything fancy in place, but I doubt it. IE7 is my browser of non-choice here at work. Huh - there’s a GLabs feature called “Inserting Images” and I even had it disabled. What’s your “Outgoing message encoding”? Mine’s set to default. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/6 "2009-07-14T17:33:47Z")
Strange, that does not work for me. I can paste the image in other places but not gmail. IE 7 is what I have as well. ---
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/7 "2009-07-14T17:53:58Z")
Wow, I guess I was doing it wrong. Cut and paste still fails for me, but I just got stuff into Yahoo mail with drag and drop. (I’m on Firefox 3 and the image I tested was in another Firefox tab. I’d never thought to drag across tabs before, but it works. Just have to be patient until the drop tab displays. ) So thanks, I’m now free to switch to online, with occasional backups to hard disk, rather than the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/8 "2009-07-14T17:55:28Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Strange, that does not work for me. I can paste the image in other places but not gmail. IE 7 is what I have as well. Huh. At the top of your text box when you’re writing a message, does it have a bunch of formatting icons (bold, italics, size, etc.)? There should be an icon of a picture. That’ll work as well, and pull in an image from your computer or URL. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/9 "2009-07-14T18:07:52Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Huh. At the top of your text box when you’re writing a message, does it have a bunch of formatting icons (bold, italics, size, etc.)? There should be an icon of a picture. That’ll work as well, and pull in an image from your computer or URL. I did not have such a thing until I hunted for it in the google labs section of settings. I can however drag images like Never Say Dice just mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/10 "2009-07-14T18:45:17Z")
So, anybody know if it can be done in Thunderbird? ---
**Author:** ![\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eada6e/32.png) [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/11 "2009-07-14T19:47:28Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Huh. At the top of your text box when you’re writing a message, does it have a bunch of formatting icons (bold, italics, size, etc.)? There should be an icon of a picture. That’ll work as well, and pull in an image from your computer or URL. You need to have rich text formatting enabled for that, perhaps that’s your problem. There’s a link on the left above the text field to do that. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-online-email-systems-that-let-you-put-pictures-into-emails-like-outlook-does/502997/12 "2009-07-14T20:50:00Z")
Pretty sure Thunderbird does this: > **[How to Compose Messages in HTML or Plain Text](https://www.lifewire.com/compose-html-messages-thunderbird-1173108)** > > Use a more comfortable and powerful message editor in Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape, and Mozilla, and add inline images, custom fonts, and more.