I have followed the instructions to display remote content in Thunderbird but some emails still require me to go to their websites to see content. What now?

What "instructions" are you referring to?

Can you describe how these certain emails "require" you to go to their web sites? Do they show a placeholder?

What kinds of remote content are you expecting to see?

There's only one setting in Thunderbird that controls that, <Settings | Privacy & Security | Mail Content | Allow remote content in messages>. There is also an "Exceptions" area there where you can Allow or Block certain sites. How is yours set?

Are you aware of the security implications of automatically allowing remote content?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remote-content-in-messages

I am expecting to see images in my email. My Thunderbird is set to "allow remote content" and I have listed the websites where the remote content does not load as "Allow" exceptions. The emails that do not display the images do quickly flash the images on the screen and then go to a blank placeholder. Yes, I am aware of the security implications of allowing remote content.

Does this happen with all messages with remote images, or just some? If just some, are they all from the same source?

Inline images are only visible in HTML formatted messages. Are you sure they are not just simple text messages? And if HTML, are you confident that they are formatted with valid HTML?

You have three choices of viewing format, "Original HTML", "Simple HTML", and "Plain Text" (see menu the menu options in <View | View Message Body As>.) Only "Original HTML will display inline images. Which view are you using?

Try restarting Thunderbird in Troubleshoot Mode (see <Help | Troubleshoot Mode>.) Do things display more like you expect?

What antivirus or other network security or VPN software do you use, if any? If so, try temporarily disabling it or creating an exception for Thunderbird in it.

This only happens with some messages and yes, they are all from the same source (nyt.com) and I have added them as an "allow" exception in my "allow remote content" config. I am currently using Norton 360 antivirus and no VPN software. My email provider (ATT.net) recently forced me to change certificates to wscert.der as the previous one was invalidated by them on 10/06/2026. This problem began with the certificate change.

I am loath to but in here as I hate anything to do with Norton and come accross as a special biggot becuase of that but two things.

Norton has the capacity and a willingness to block remote images if it thinks they are a risk. Given the source it may well see the remote images as a privacy threat as they probably contain a tracking component.

The second issue here is images are not all created equal. just because the web page shown the image leads me to think that they are not really remote images, but remote scripts that display images after they collect their masters marketing and tracking data. This is particularly common in marketing and commercial email in the USA. Other countries have legislation to limit the use of the cstomer as a datamine. The USA largely does not.

In the message where you see a broken image placeholder right click and select copy link.

Paste it into a reply on the forum and we might be able to work out if it points to an image or a script. If it is a script, you are just plain out of luck. For security reasons Thunderbird doers not execute scripts in emails. It is far to easy to a script (a small program in it's own right) to escape captivity and wreak havoc. This is a problem Microsoft have been having with their mail programs now for decades that does not involve Thunderbird users at all.

I did not get a "copy link" choice when I right click on the image. I get "copy link location". Here is the paste of that.

https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/_AUUCaFUouJUp2QxI8ifgw~~/AAAAARA~/V_lT-q15V7LeLoHDecGzQ42rZxbKLdcCX99kYwErRqdXuTMO7Ntk2mZJGz2RwZWjOqXveW4w1qskInIiSa0NnRAq8aDH4C227pg7ZWdIml4FDHkntHWDKN1sHhohLd4KcL7j29PhCNeQhJ9pK3a2WUlTudU79zjwKRois2kGSS7wgJuBig2fDAzNlHF1Z1tkPkCbj-JeB_ITbjUajO8HoiTwgz0xqfH1a8AC7jnBIocVcKYMXgAUssMHzKvtTDFE7fTZL-dE99SaZXFLRPHrRHaVm2n0UT3citYn3qkrWCGIT0NGNRbyP5mPaqr9oUSFdgOwtsiGRqGrESYmJDW8gE34lLRZVyJA5LEppXBCyqnp5SxFMBE9vLSQ91cxz8ThdUgpCDMBNv0BrllOeoWPZN2t9lNdkLf76jtHWrbplahKW0gMQMVT015cN5EMN1pMAsS7aUiGelNM-jGStSTQhSzb-3CxotT7lDpvjl6Q7BA_13-i4Uz1lZ4AEq-vWM_y3dbbxY24rjN0kgDGkaHDxA~~

.There is also a "copy image" choice and this is what it yields.

https://nl.nytimes.com/f/newsletter/-_Qp8O_arSw2grzxRQP99Q~~/AAAAARA~/LfamD0o4RuxKViylyVnofCoNka9DcBDUEHjYxT41tJKVwWohrPqFXrPbqXnuwu4BzvcFevqzqjNmBCF3NeA-xMHfv4D2XpYWnOXpwlSZgbryhNhrW7Zpl745f08s8SnYml40ZNNtKT-0Kza8jSqZh3gOuLSIFKtm8kD-XB11Yzdab22D03zUFbn-13KabdIZu827fxFh9SXFFLNz1z-DiTSVq1ArsSKPGEI9v4Biw1LLw_zy5ZsGqMRLiXZRU36BMNdaUrW6VvmaoVD3UmHGJzYL_tUJ8fnAJXcUpSSnx3thNvc4qaEPM923Lz9-B3szOt8J-cN_mNNcyBHik7FBtOrDfDuAyRvuBBU_bSsBgqNN9ADkSMPuAABVGMJMCzuT

Hope it means something to you because it is way over my head. Thanks for butting in.