By now, you’ve probably gotten pretty used to taking action — such as right-clicking or pressing a little link — so that images can be displayed in your emails. But if you use Gmail, this chore is about to be a thing of the past.
Google on Thursday announced that images will now be displayed in your Gmail messages automatically across the desktop, iOS, and Android versions of the email service. The change is rolling out on the desktop beginning today and will hit the Gmail mobile apps early next year.
“Have you ever wondered why Gmail asks you before showing images in emails?” Google product manager John Rae-Grant wrote in a blog post. “We did this to protect you from unknown senders who might try to use images to compromise the security of your computer or mobile device.”
The Web giant has now made some improvements in the way Gmail handles images, enabling the change. Instead of serving images directly from their original external servers, Gmail now serves them through Google’s own secure proxy servers, Rae-Grant explained.
Images are checked for known viruses and other malware, meaning your messages are more secure. Even better, you’ll never have to press that annoying “display images below” link again.
“With this new change, your email will now be safer, faster and more beautiful than ever,” he wrote.
If, for whatever reason, you prefer to continue manually authorizing images to display, simply choose the option “Ask before displaying external images” under the General tab in your Gmail settings. That option will also be the default for users who previously selected “As before displaying external content.”
Meanwhile, if Gmail just isn’t working for you anymore, Microsoft has simplified the process of moving to Outlook.com. The software giant on Wednesday introduced new functionality in Outlook.com that lets you easily transfer over all your emails, contacts, and folders from Gmail.