Outlook 2013 performance issue - embedded pictures downloaded repeatedly, not saved on local system

I am using Outlook 2013 32-bit as a standalone POP3/SMTP email client, without Exchange, running on Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.

I have Trust Center configured to NOT automatically download embedded pictures.  Instead, if I view the message (without the pictures) then decide to download, I right-click on the placeholder and select to "download pictures".  Everything is fine up to this point. 

Later, when I check into a hotel and turn on my laptop it boots quickly with SSD drives but the corresponding hotel reservation message is no longer readable because the critical content is provided in embedded pictures that are NOT displayed until later, when I get to my room and connect to the hotel wifi network and then it is much slower than when I first viewed the pictures on my home network.

QUESTION:  How can I configure Outlook 2013 (without Exchange) to save/store downloaded embedded pictures with the message, so they are not downloaded repeatedly? 

Outlook 2003 handled this perfectly - configurable to NOT automatically download pictures, then after selecting to download, it prompted to save the pictures with the message or not.  That improved performance when viewing the same message again over a slow network, or no network at all.  How can

May 18th, 2015 12:40pm

Hi,

I can confirm this issue exists, and it seems like by design in Outlook, even in Outlook 2010 this behavior is the same.

The only option about this is as you mentioned in the Trust Center Settings, we don't have much control about it as far as I can tell.

In this scenario, we need to take some workarounds, for example, we can save the message as HTML or save the images to local. Saving as PDF or Word may also help.

Regards,

Melon Chen

Forum Support

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May 19th, 2015 11:28pm

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

Regards,

Melon Chen

Forum Support

May 24th, 2015 9:24pm

The information is not helpful.  The problem continues.  Although it might have been an intentional design change, it had adverse side effects to the point that I consider the change a defect.

It seems that the change from what worked quite well in Outlook 2003 to the flawed approach used since then in Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, and now, sadly, repeated in Outlook 2013 is based on most users always having access to the Internet with a high-speed connection.  That might be typical but it certainly is not always the case.

Why do I want to same embedded pictures in Outlook messages?  If I know that I might need access to embedded pictures later, such as for hotel and airline confirmation messages, then I want to take advantage of the amazing sophistication of the software available on my laptop to be able to make a simple selection to cause the embedded pictures for that message to be saved.  Then, later, I can view the entire message, including the embedded pictures, when I most need to, whether or not the laptop is connected to anything.  This is such a simple, convenient thing, yet now it's impossible to do, simply.  Instead, I have to go through extra steps to print to paper and carry that around with me, or perhaps print to PDF, storing that separately from the original message. 

Acknowledging that the problem exists does not change the fact that as sophisticated as it is, Outlook has lost a useful feature that affects performance and usability.

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May 25th, 2015 8:06am

Hi,

I have to say this design so far may bring some inconvenience to the users, such as in your scenario. Before the product change is made, now we can only take some workarounds as you may have known, and I am now reporting this issue to someone who may be involved.

Although the design meets the most users' needs, however it is still not perfect. Please be assured that any improvements in the product are based on users' requirements. Our developers strive to capture Microsoft users' ideas and are working hard to create a more powerful and easy-to-use product.

Regards,

Melon Chen

Forum Support

May 25th, 2015 10:06pm

Melon,

Again, thanks for the repeated explanation, but I considered it misleading to mark that as an answer to the original post.  Currently, this is simply a well-known issue that affects some users - apparently just a small percentage of users.

If someone can assist and escalate this issue to get it on a list of feature requests (to reinstate the feature that was in Outlook 2003), then that would be an answer.  Certainly, Microsoft product management may chose to restore the user configurable feature that was provided in Outlook 2003, or not. 

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June 10th, 2015 7:10am

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