Send inline image in email

C#ImageEmailSmtpInline

C# Problem Overview

Having an issue sending an image via email as an embedded image in the body. The image file shows as an attachment which is ok but the inline image portion just shows as a red x.

Here is what I have so far

LinkedResource inline = new LinkedResource(filePath);
inline.ContentId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();
Attachment att = new Attachment(filePath);
att.ContentDisposition.Inline = true;
mail.From = from_email;
mail.To.Add(data.email);
mail.Subject = "Client: " + data.client_id + " Has Sent You A Screenshot";
mail.Body = String.Format(
    "<h3>Client: " + data.client_id + " Has Sent You A Screenshot</h3>" +
    @"<img src=""cid:{0}"" />", inline.ContentId);

mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
mail.Attachments.Add(att);

C# Solutions

Solution 1 - C#

Some minimal c# code to embed an image, can be:

MailMessage mailWithImg = GetMailWithImg();
MySMTPClient.Send(mailWithImg); //* Set up your SMTPClient before!

private MailMessage GetMailWithImg() {
    MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();
    mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
    mail.AlternateViews.Add(GetEmbeddedImage("c:/image.png"));
    mail.From = new MailAddress("yourAddress@yourDomain");
    mail.To.Add("recipient@hisDomain");
    mail.Subject = "yourSubject";
    return mail;
}

private AlternateView GetEmbeddedImage(String filePath) {
    LinkedResource res = new LinkedResource(filePath);
    res.ContentId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
    string htmlBody = @"<img src='cid:" + res.ContentId + @"'/>";
    AlternateView alternateView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(htmlBody, null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html);
    alternateView.LinkedResources.Add(res);
    return alternateView;
}

Solution 2 - C#

Try this

 string htmlBody = "<html><body><h1>Picture</h1><br><img src=\"cid:filename\"></body></html>";
 AlternateView avHtml = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString
    (htmlBody, null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html);

 LinkedResource inline = new LinkedResource("filename.jpg", MediaTypeNames.Image.Jpeg);
 inline.ContentId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
 avHtml.LinkedResources.Add(inline);

 MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();
 mail.AlternateViews.Add(avHtml);

 Attachment att = new Attachment(filePath);
 att.ContentDisposition.Inline = true;

 mail.From = from_email;
 mail.To.Add(data.email);
 mail.Subject = "Client: " + data.client_id + " Has Sent You A Screenshot";
 mail.Body = String.Format(
            "<h3>Client: " + data.client_id + " Has Sent You A Screenshot</h3>" +
            @"<img src=""cid:{0}"" />", att.ContentId);

 mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
 mail.Attachments.Add(att);

Solution 3 - C#

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string Themessage = @"<html>
                          <body>
                            <table width=""100%"">
                            <tr>
                                <td style=""font-style:arial; color:maroon; font-weight:bold"">
                               Hi! <br>
                                <img src=cid:myImageID>
                                </td>
                            </tr>
                            </table>
                            </body>
                            </html>";
        sendHtmlEmail("[email protected]", "tomailaccount", Themessage, "Scoutfoto", "Test HTML Email", "smtp.gmail.com", 25);
    }

    protected void sendHtmlEmail(string from_Email, string to_Email, string body, string           from_Name, string Subject, string SMTP_IP, Int32 SMTP_Server_Port)
    {
        //create an instance of new mail message
        MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();

        //set the HTML format to true
        mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
       
        //create Alrternative HTML view
        AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(body, null, "text/html");

        //Add Image
        LinkedResource theEmailImage = new LinkedResource("E:\\IMG_3332.jpg");
        theEmailImage.ContentId = "myImageID";

        //Add the Image to the Alternate view
        htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(theEmailImage);

        //Add view to the Email Message
        mail.AlternateViews.Add(htmlView);

        //set the "from email" address and specify a friendly 'from' name
        mail.From = new MailAddress(from_Email, from_Name);

        //set the "to" email address
        mail.To.Add(to_Email);

        //set the Email subject
        mail.Subject = Subject;

        //set the SMTP info
        System.Net.NetworkCredential cred = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("[email protected]", "fromEmail password");
        SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("smtp.gmail.com", 587);
        smtp.EnableSsl = true;
        smtp.DeliveryMethod = SmtpDeliveryMethod.Network;
        smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = false;
        smtp.Credentials = cred;
        //send the email
        smtp.Send(mail);
    }

Solution 4 - C#

In addition to the comments above, I have the following additional comments:

  • Do not mix Attachments and AlternativeView, use one or the other. If you mix them, the inline attachments will be rendered as unknown downloads.
  • While Outlook and Google allow standard HTML-style "cid:att-001" this does NOT work on iPhone (late 2016 patch level), rather use pure alpha numeric "cid:att-001" -> "cid:att001"

As an aside: Outlook (even Office 2015) rendering (still the clear majority for business users) requires the use of TABLE TR TD style HTML, as it does not fully support the HTML box model.

Solution 5 - C#

An even more minimalistic example:

var linkedResource = new LinkedResource(@"C:\Image.jpg", MediaTypeNames.Image.Jpeg);

// My mail provider would not accept an email with only an image, adding hello so that the content looks less suspicious.
var htmlBody = $"hello<img src=\"cid:{linkedResource.ContentId}\"/>";
var alternateView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(htmlBody, null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html);
alternateView.LinkedResources.Add(linkedResource);

var mailMessage = new MailMessage
{
	From = new MailAddress("[email protected]"),
	To = { "[email protected]" },
	Subject = "yourSubject",
	AlternateViews = { alternateView }
};

var smtpClient = new SmtpClient();
smtpClient.Send(mailMessage);

Solution 6 - C#

Try This.

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            string Themessage = @"<html>
                              <body>
                                <table width=""100%"">
                                <tr>
                                    <td style=""font-style:arial; color:maroon; font-weight:bold"">
                                   Hi! <br>
                                    <img src=cid:myImageID>
                                    </td>
                                </tr>
                                </table>
                                </body>
                                </html>";
            sendHtmlEmail("[email protected]", "tomailaccount", Themessage, "Scoutfoto", "Test HTML Email", "smtp.gmail.com", 25);
        }

protected void sendHtmlEmail(string from_Email, string to_Email, string body, string from_Name, string Subject, string SMTP_IP, Int32 SMTP_Server_Port)
        {
            //create an instance of new mail message
            MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();

            //set the HTML format to true
            mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
           
            //create Alrternative HTML view
            AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(body, null, "text/html");

            //Add Image
            LinkedResource theEmailImage = new LinkedResource("E:\\IMG_3332.jpg");
            theEmailImage.ContentId = "myImageID";

            //Add the Image to the Alternate view
            htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(theEmailImage);

            //Add view to the Email Message
            mail.AlternateViews.Add(htmlView);

            //set the "from email" address and specify a friendly 'from' name
            mail.From = new MailAddress(from_Email, from_Name);

            //set the "to" email address
            mail.To.Add(to_Email);

            //set the Email subject
            mail.Subject = Subject;

            //set the SMTP info
            System.Net.NetworkCredential cred = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("[email protected]", "fromEmail password");
            SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient("smtp.gmail.com", 587);
            smtp.EnableSsl = true;
            smtp.DeliveryMethod = SmtpDeliveryMethod.Network;
            smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = false;
            smtp.Credentials = cred;
            //send the email
            smtp.Send(mail);
        }

Solution 7 - C#

The other solution is attaching the image as attachment and then referencing it html code using cid. HTML Code:

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
    <img width=100 height=100 id=""1"" src=""cid:Logo.jpg"">
</body>
</html>

C# Code:

EmailMessage email = new EmailMessage(service);
email.Subject = "Email with Image";
email.Body = new MessageBody(BodyType.HTML, html);
email.ToRecipients.Add("[email protected]");
string file = @"C:\Users\acv\Pictures\Logo.jpg";
email.Attachments.AddFileAttachment("Logo.jpg", file);
email.Attachments[0].IsInline = true;
email.Attachments[0].ContentId = "Logo.jpg";
email.SendAndSaveCopy();

Solution 8 - C#

We all have our preferred coding styles. This is what I did:

var pictures = new[]
{
    new { id = Guid.NewGuid(), type = "image/jpeg", tag = "justme", path = @"C:\Pictures\JustMe.jpg" },
    new { id = Guid.NewGuid(), type = "image/jpeg", tag = "justme-bw", path = @"C:\Pictures\JustMe-BW.jpg" }
}.ToList();

var content = $@"
<style type=""text/css"">
    body {{ font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; }}
</style>
<body>
<h4>{DateTime.Now:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy h:mm:ss tt}</h4>
<p>Some pictures</p>
<div>
    <p>Color Picture</p>
    <img src=cid:{{justme}} />
</div>
<div>
    <p>Black and White Picture</p>
    <img src=cid:{{justme-bw}} />
</div>
<div>
    <p>Color Picture repeated</p>
    <img src=cid:{{justme}} />
</div>
</body>
";

// Update content with picture guid
pictures.ForEach(p => content = content.Replace($"{{{p.tag}}}", $"{p.id}"));
// Create Alternate View
var view = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(content, Encoding.UTF8, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html);
// Add the resources
pictures.ForEach(p => view.LinkedResources.Add(new LinkedResource(p.path, p.type) { ContentId = p.id.ToString() }));

using (var client = new SmtpClient()) // Set properties as needed or use config file
using (MailMessage message = new MailMessage()
{
    IsBodyHtml = true,
    BodyEncoding = Encoding.UTF8,
    Subject = "Picture Email",
    SubjectEncoding = Encoding.UTF8,
})
{
    message.AlternateViews.Add(view);
    message.From = new MailAddress("me@me.com");
    message.To.Add(new MailAddress("you@you.com"));
    client.Send(message);
}

Solution 9 - C#

You need to add the LinkedResource into an AlternateView

AlternateView alternateView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString("<h3>Client: " + data.client_id + " Has Sent You A Screenshot</h3>" +
                @"<img src=""cid:{0}"" />", null, "text/html");
alternateView.LinkedResources.Add(inline);
mail.AlternateViews.Add(alternateView);

Solution 10 - C#

    MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();
    //set the addresses
    mail.From = new MailAddress("[email protected]");
    mail.To.Add("[email protected]");

    //set the content
    mail.Subject = "Sucessfully Sent the HTML and Content of mail";

    //first we create the Plain Text part
    string plainText = "Non-HTML Plain Text Message for Non-HTML enable mode";
    AlternateView plainView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(plainText, null, "text/plain");
    XmlTextReader reader = new XmlTextReader(@"E:\HTMLPage.htm");
    string[] address = new string[30];
    string finalHtml = "";
    var i = -1;
    while (reader.Read())
    {
        if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Element)
        { // The node is an element.
            if (reader.AttributeCount <= 1)
            {
                if (reader.Name == "img")
                {
                    finalHtml += "<" + reader.Name;
                    while (reader.MoveToNextAttribute())
                    {
                        if (reader.Name == "src")
                        {
                            i++;
                            address[i] = reader.Value;
                            address[i] = address[i].Remove(0, 8);
                            finalHtml += " " + reader.Name + "=" + "cid:chartlogo" + i.ToString();
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            finalHtml += " " + reader.Name + "='" + reader.Value + "'";
                        }
                    }
                    finalHtml += ">";
                }
                else
                {
                    finalHtml += "<" + reader.Name;
                    while (reader.MoveToNextAttribute())
                    {
                        finalHtml += " " + reader.Name + "='" + reader.Value + "'";
                    }
                    finalHtml += ">";
                }
            }

        }
        else if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.Text)
        { //Display the text in each element.
            finalHtml += reader.Value;
        }
        else if (reader.NodeType == XmlNodeType.EndElement)
        {
            //Display the end of the element.
            finalHtml += "</" + reader.Name;
            finalHtml += ">";
        }

    }

    AlternateView htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(finalHtml, null, "text/html");
    LinkedResource[] logo = new LinkedResource[i + 1];
    for (int j = 0; j <= i; j++)
    {
        logo[j] = new LinkedResource(address[j]);
        logo[j].ContentId = "chartlogo" + j;
        htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo[j]);
    }
    mail.AlternateViews.Add(plainView);
    mail.AlternateViews.Add(htmlView);
    SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient();
    smtp.Host = "smtp.gmail.com";
    smtp.Port = 587;
    smtp.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(
        "[email protected]", "Password");
    smtp.EnableSsl = true;
    Console.WriteLine();
    smtp.Send(mail);
}

Solution 11 - C#

I added the complete code below to display images in Gmail,Thunderbird and other email clients :

MailMessage mailWithImg = getMailWithImg();
MySMTPClient.Send(mailWithImg); //* Set up your SMTPClient before!

private MailMessage getMailWithImg()
{
    MailMessage mail = new MailMessage();
    mail.IsBodyHtml = true;
    mail.AlternateViews.Add(getEmbeddedImage("c:/image.png"));
    mail.From = new MailAddress("yourAddress@yourDomain");
    mail.To.Add("recipient@hisDomain");
    mail.Subject = "yourSubject";
    return mail;
}
private AlternateView getEmbeddedImage(String filePath)
 {
    // below line was corrected to include the mediatype so it displays in all 
    // mail clients. previous solution only displays in Gmail the inline images 
    LinkedResource res = new LinkedResource(filePath, MediaTypeNames.Image.Jpeg);  
    res.ContentId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
    string htmlBody = @"<img src='cid:" + res.ContentId + @"'/>";
    AlternateView alternateView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(htmlBody,  
     null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html);
    alternateView.LinkedResources.Add(res);
    return alternateView;
}

Solution 12 - C#

> sending 2 images vb.net code convert for C# online converter.

Public Function SendEmail(Optional ByVal p_AsHTML As Boolean = False, Optional ByVal p_themEmail As String = "") As Boolean
            Dim client As SmtpClient = New SmtpClient ''("FMSERVER.FMINNOVATIONS.COM.AU")
            'Dim fromAddress As MailAddress = New MailAddress(Me.FromEmail, "WSMenterprise")
            'Dim toAddress As MailAddress
            Try
                Dim aMessage As New MailMessage()
                '(New MailAddress(Me.FromEmail, "WSMenterprise"), New MailAddress(anAdd))
                If _fromAddress IsNot Nothing Then
                    If _fromName IsNot Nothing Then
                        aMessage.From = New MailAddress(_fromAddress, _fromName)
                    Else
                        aMessage.From = New MailAddress(_fromAddress)
                    End If
                End If
                For Each anAdd As String In _To
                    aMessage.To.Add(New MailAddress(anAdd))
                Next
                For Each cc As String In _CC
                    aMessage.CC.Add(New MailAddress(cc))
                Next
                For Each bcc As String In _BCC
                    aMessage.Bcc.Add(New MailAddress(bcc))
                Next
                aMessage.Subject = _Subject
                aMessage.IsBodyHtml = p_AsHTML
    
                If _EmailLogo Is Nothing Then
                    aMessage.Body = _Body
                Else
                    If p_themEmail.ToString().ToLower.Contains("dexus") Then
    
                       Dim htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(_Body.ToString(), Nothing, "text/html")
                        Dim logo As New LinkedResource(_EmailLogo)
                        logo.ContentId = "Dexuslogo1"
                        Dim logo1 As New LinkedResource(_EmailLogo1)
                        logo1.ContentId = "Dexuslogo2"
                        htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo)
                        htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo1)
                        aMessage.AlternateViews.Add(htmlView)
    
                    Else
    
                        Dim htmlView = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(_Body.ToString(), Nothing, "text/html")
                        Dim logo As New LinkedResource(_EmailLogo)
                        logo.ContentId = "companylogo"
                        htmlView.LinkedResources.Add(logo)
                        aMessage.AlternateViews.Add(htmlView)
                    End If
                End If
    
                For Each anAttach As Attachment In _Attachments
                    aMessage.Attachments.Add(anAttach)
                Next
    
                If _ReplyTo IsNot Nothing Then aMessage.ReplyToList.Add(New MailAddress(_ReplyTo))
                client.Host = "smtpi.cbre.com.au"
                client.UseDefaultCredentials = True
                client.Send(aMessage)
            Catch exRecipUnk As SmtpFailedRecipientException
                Return False
            Catch exSmtp As SmtpException
                ''exSmtp.StatusCode
                Return False
            Catch ex As Exception
                Return False
            End Try
            Return True
        End Function
    If p_Gmap_code = "DE" Then
                Dim p_Theme As New Theme("Dexus")
                Dim passwordlink As String = ""
                Dim DexuslogoImage1 As String = System.IO.Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "Images\Dexus_Notice_Logo.png")
                Dim DexuslogoImage2 As String = System.IO.Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "Images\DexusTenantNotice.png")
    
                passwordlink = "<a href='" + p_Theme.TenantLoginPage + "?accesstype=email&te=" + a.Encrypt(p_TenantEmail) + "' target='_blank'>here.</a><br/>"
                bodys += "<div align='Center'><table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0'><tr style='height:50px;'><td width='623px' ></td><td valign='top' width='180'><p align='right'><a href='http://www.dexus.com/'><img border='0' height='50' src=cid:Dexuslogo1 width='174' alt=''/></a></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:25px;'></td></tr> <tr><td width='623px'><p align='left' style='font-family:Arial;font-size:14pt;'><strong> Your Dexus Response Password is about to expire</strong></p></td>"
                bodys += " <td width='180'><p align='right' style='font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;'>" + DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy") + " </p>"
                bodys += "</td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:30px;'>  </td></tr> <tr>  <td colspan='2' width='803' style='font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;'>"
                bodys += "<p>" + wishes + " " + p_TenantName.Trim().ToString() + "</p>"
                bodys += "</td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:25px;'></td> </tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;'>"
                bodys += "Your Dexus Response password is about to expire in " + p_remaindays.ToString() + " days.<br /><br /> To reset your password and update your details, please click " + passwordlink.ToString() + "<br /><br />Please note that if you do not update your password by " + p_date + ",then your account will be set to inactive and you will not be able to access Dexus Response.</br></br>Please contact Dexus Response if you require assistance in accessing the portal.</p></td>" 'edit
                bodys += " </tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:30px;'></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803'><table align='left' border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0'><tr><td width='802' style='font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;'><p><strong>Dexus Response</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td width='802' style='font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;'><p><a href='mailto:[email protected]'>[email protected]</a> <strong>|</strong> 1300 339 870 <strong>|</strong> <a href='https://response.dexus.com/'>response.dexus.com</a></p></td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:15px;'></td></tr><tr> <td colspan='2' width='803'><p> </p><p><a href='https://response.dexus.com/' border='0' target='_blank'><img border='0' height='133'"
                bodys += "src=cid:Dexuslogo2 alt='' width='800' /></a></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:10px;'></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;'><p><a href='http://www.dexus.com/who-we-are/terms-and-conditions' style=' color:#000000;'>Terms and Conditions</a><strong> | </strong><a href='http://www.dexus.com/who-we-are/privacy-policy' style=' color:#000000;'> Privacy Policy</a></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:40px;'></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803'><p></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:10px;'></td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td colspan='2' width='803' style='height:20px;'></td></tr></table></div>"
    
                email = New Common.Email(emailHeading, bodys, p_Theme.EmailFrom, DexuslogoImage1, DexuslogoImage2)
                email.ToEmail = p_TenantEmail
                email.SendEmail(True, p_Theme.EmailFrom)
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