How to keep Office 365 email logo image after multiple email replies?
November 14, 2014 11:59 AM
Is there any way to ensure that the logo image in an email signature will remain visible even after several replies and forwards?
This is for a client. We tried creating a signature in html, with the image loaded from a publicly visible site and with the 'nosend' attribute, like so:
They use Office 365, so we can't just paste in the HTML, so we used the "copy from browser and paste into signature box" method, which supposedly maintains the link to the image.
This works, pretty much, though checking the code, after a few replies, the image is attached instead of linked. After sending the original email with signature, replying to it, replying to the reply, etc, when we sent the nth reply from an iPhone to a desktop mail client, the image is gone.
Is there a bulletproof way to ensure email images sent from Office 365 are visible even after n replies?
This is for a client. We tried creating a signature in html, with the image loaded from a publicly visible site and with the 'nosend' attribute, like so:
img src="http://www.client.cl/logo.jpg" width="184" height="82" nosend="1" border="0"/ They use Office 365, so we can't just paste in the HTML, so we used the "copy from browser and paste into signature box" method, which supposedly maintains the link to the image.
This works, pretty much, though checking the code, after a few replies, the image is attached instead of linked. After sending the original email with signature, replying to it, replying to the reply, etc, when we sent the nth reply from an iPhone to a desktop mail client, the image is gone.
Is there a bulletproof way to ensure email images sent from Office 365 are visible even after n replies?
Is there a bulletproof way to ensure email images sent from Office 365 are visible even after n replies?
Short version: There is no bulletproof way. There are no limitations on how an email client can modify the message contents when replying to a message. And there's a billion different email clients. And some of them will convert the message to plain text, discarding all formatting and images.
Attachments are most likely to get discarded, because they make the email big. In long threads with lots of signatures can become pretty significant. But html links to hosted images are not going to be very reliable either; email clients don't always fetch the remote images, for privacy reasons (they have been used by spammers for tracking purposes).
I am a little surprised that one of the email clients downloaded the remotely hosted image and changed it into an attachment during a reply, because I don't see the point, but there's no rules or anything saying not to do that.
posted by aubilenon at 12:13 PM on November 14, 2014
Short version: There is no bulletproof way. There are no limitations on how an email client can modify the message contents when replying to a message. And there's a billion different email clients. And some of them will convert the message to plain text, discarding all formatting and images.
Attachments are most likely to get discarded, because they make the email big. In long threads with lots of signatures can become pretty significant. But html links to hosted images are not going to be very reliable either; email clients don't always fetch the remote images, for privacy reasons (they have been used by spammers for tracking purposes).
I am a little surprised that one of the email clients downloaded the remotely hosted image and changed it into an attachment during a reply, because I don't see the point, but there's no rules or anything saying not to do that.
posted by aubilenon at 12:13 PM on November 14, 2014
What is the purpose of maintaining a log in an email chain?
As per the OP it seems to be just fulfilling the unreasonable demands of a client who wants to force name brand recognition/visibility.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:21 PM on November 14, 2014
As per the OP it seems to be just fulfilling the unreasonable demands of a client who wants to force name brand recognition/visibility.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:21 PM on November 14, 2014
As others have suggested, all you need is one person in the chain setting their email to plain text viewing (and some companies particularly concerned with privacy and malware-blocking do require that) and the fancy embedded logo's gone (along with any formatting, stationary styling, etc.). I have to explain this occasionally to people at my company too, as some people really like to put small promotional images in their signatures and get peeved/confused/sure there's a "bug" when the images aren't still there in replies.
posted by aught at 12:40 PM on November 14, 2014
posted by aught at 12:40 PM on November 14, 2014
Speaking as someone who actually works on a team developing a popular email client, let me add to the resounding chorus of "no"s. There's no way to predict how any given email client will mangle or alter the text of a reply or forwarded email, and you're lucky to have the image show up at all for anyone.
posted by Aleyn at 2:10 PM on November 14, 2014
posted by Aleyn at 2:10 PM on November 14, 2014
> What is the purpose of maintaining a log in an email chain?
> As per the OP it seems to be just fulfilling the unreasonable demands of a client who wants to force name brand recognition/visibility.
I wasn't sure, because there might be some other weird reason.
If this is just a desire to brand emails, I would like to point to iPhones and other mobile devices: they all have short, simple branding options that are in plain text, with minimal formatting, telling the recipient what device and/or app sent the message. "Sent with my iPhone 5whozit" is not likely to get garbled in transmission, split into separate lines, shoved into an attachment, or anything else, and it has a clear message.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:18 PM on November 14, 2014
> As per the OP it seems to be just fulfilling the unreasonable demands of a client who wants to force name brand recognition/visibility.
I wasn't sure, because there might be some other weird reason.
If this is just a desire to brand emails, I would like to point to iPhones and other mobile devices: they all have short, simple branding options that are in plain text, with minimal formatting, telling the recipient what device and/or app sent the message. "Sent with my iPhone 5whozit" is not likely to get garbled in transmission, split into separate lines, shoved into an attachment, or anything else, and it has a clear message.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:18 PM on November 14, 2014
If you put your message and signature inside a PDF file, it becomes unitary as far as the mail system is concerned. People downstream can forward it (or not) but they can't easily modify it.
Unfortunately, it also can't be directly viewed in many email clients; they have to click it and open a PDF reader.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:05 PM on November 14, 2014
Unfortunately, it also can't be directly viewed in many email clients; they have to click it and open a PDF reader.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:05 PM on November 14, 2014
Given how sad most email applications are (Outlook, I am looking directly at you), they're much better off going the text route.
An image is nice but as others have said, there is no guarantee that everyone will see it for even a single iteration, nor will it do anything if the recipient has email images turned off or is using an application that ignores them.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 3:28 PM on November 14, 2014
An image is nice but as others have said, there is no guarantee that everyone will see it for even a single iteration, nor will it do anything if the recipient has email images turned off or is using an application that ignores them.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 3:28 PM on November 14, 2014
Most mail clients will not load remote images automatically for security, so the link method won't work.
The attached image logo idea must die in a fire, as it flags your stupid logo as an attachment. When I search for e-mails from you with attachments, every bloody one of your asshat e-mails comes up as a match. I either have to manually search through all of the e-mails, or (more likely) send you a far less polite note than this one, requesting those files ASAP, and likening your logo to the north end of a diarrhoeic southbound cow ...
posted by scruss at 4:37 PM on November 14, 2014
The attached image logo idea must die in a fire, as it flags your stupid logo as an attachment. When I search for e-mails from you with attachments, every bloody one of your asshat e-mails comes up as a match. I either have to manually search through all of the e-mails, or (more likely) send you a far less polite note than this one, requesting those files ASAP, and likening your logo to the north end of a diarrhoeic southbound cow ...
posted by scruss at 4:37 PM on November 14, 2014
The only thing I found that would even remotely do something like this is something that would run on the Exchange server like products from Exclaimer. But, then, that's not Office 365 and you're still at the mercy of email clients and their settings. Honestly, I'd work on getting the client to understand that the best they can do it put the logo in and hope recipients see it. Otherwise, that's all they can do.
posted by tcv at 7:41 PM on November 14, 2014
posted by tcv at 7:41 PM on November 14, 2014
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If any email client reduces the emails to plain text, even embedded images are gone, included instead as attachments.
The only way to maintain formatting of a message is to send a PDF, because from my experiences, this is the most stable format.
What is the purpose of maintaining a log in an email chain?
posted by filthy light thief at 12:04 PM on November 14, 2014