Windows Live Mail is the latest email client from Microsoft and has some really cool features including text messaging, enhanced security, easy search, automated junk email filtering, posting to Windows Live Spaces blog etc. The one I like the most is Photo email. It allows you to send high resolution photographs as email attachments without cluttering up the inbox of your recipients.
Please note that there are two ways to attach photos in email messages you compose using Windows Live Mail. One is to directly embed the picture in the message and the other one is the traditional “attachment”. On this page we will look at the Photo email feature of the email client.
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Photographs from Digital cameras are very large in file size
We all love vacations and holiday trips… and we all live to preserve and share our happy times with friends and family. Our faithful friend the digital camera is always at hand to take a “memory shot”. Unfortunately, pictures taken through conventional digital cameras are huge in file size and not suited to be transferred in bulk over email, the most common mode of online communication.
Hence, there has been a prolific usage of online photo-sharing services like Google’s Picassa. To be just, most digital cameras do have a feature that saves pictures in a smaller file size which is more appropriate for emails and web sites, but who remembers this party-buster when one is having fun?
How to correctly send photographs as email attachments – Windows Live Mail Photo e-mail utility
The Windows Live Mail program’s Photo e-mail feature is a great help in sending emails with picture attachments, especially those huge file size photographs from digital cameras. It works on a simple principle which I consider a marriage between online image hosting and email.
Instead of attaching the entire image or images with the email message, Photo email lets you send only thumbnails. Thumbnails are smaller versions – both in file size and physical dimensions – of the digital photographs and thus do not clog the inbox of the recipients. The recipients get to see only the thumbnails. When they click on one of these, thus, expressing a desire to see the “bigger picture”, the larger version is displayed to them from a private location on the web. So when you use Photo email to send large images as thumbnails over email, the large versions of the photographs are quietly stored online (without your knowledge) and are displayed from there to recipients.
Like everything else on Windows Live Mail, you control the layout, format and look of the thumbnails. You can even put “cute” frame effects on the smaller versions.
How do you create a Photo email to send photographs over email?
Start by opening the New Message window by either clicking on the “New” button (on the top-left) or going to “File” -> “New” -> “Mail Message“. Now hit the “Add Photos” button in the new message window and browse to the directory in which you store your photos.
You can add multiple photos quickly – simply double click on the picture or select it and click on the “Add” button. When you are satisfied, close the “Add Photos” window by clicking on the “Done” button.
Once you have attached the pictures to your email message, you can use the several options on Photo email to change the look and size of the thumbnails, add a border or a frame, include text with individual photograph, perform basics image editing functions and much more. Also you can always change the photographs – delete certain images and add in new ones.
Below is a Photo email I created with three pictures that I have attached to the email message. All the different options are located right above the email message including information on the photographs, the estimated time to upload the images to the private web location and layout choices.
Here is the same email with frame effects and text attached to each picture. This is such a cool feature!
Remember to employ the Photo email feature of Windows Live Mail whenever you want to send your large file size photographs over email – it’s not only fun but so very useful.
By the way, you are not forced to use the Windows Live Mail Photo email functionality if you don’t want to. Though there is no disable photo email option, you can put images in email the ‘normal’ way via the “Attach” link/button.
