How to Fix a Gmail Signature Image Not Showing

Has somebody told you the supposed logo in your email signature is nothing but blank space? Are you unsure the picture in your signature is really loading? Find out here how to fix a Gmail signature image not showing.

First, Ovid Writes So Nobody Can Read

without knowing his little secret. It’s a good thing we know it!

Straight from The Art of Love, here in James Michie’s translation:

Safe and undetectable by the eye
Is writing in milk—later just apply
A sprinkling of coal-dust and presto! you can read.

Ovid, The Art of Love

So, there you have it: invisible ink some two thousand years ago.

Now, does the picture you have so laboriously added to your Gmail signature seem to be painted in milk? Let’s see if we cannot find some coal dust:

How to Fix a Gmail Signature Image Not Showing

Let’s check things are working and tackle a few common problems with a signature image in Gmail:

Check in Gmail’s Signature Editor

1. Open the Gmail signature editor.
2. Check the image appears there.

Test Your Gmail Signature Image

1. Create a new email in Gmail.
   Gmail keyboard shortcut: With Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled, you can also press C to start a new email message.
2. Enter an email address you receive under To.
   Try something else than Gmail: You can use your Gmail address, of course. For more comprehensive testing of a Gmail signature image not showing it is better to use at least one alternative service, however—Outlook.com, Yahoo Mail or Zoho Mail, for instance.
   In one go: Send the email to more than one of your addresses at the same time and check multiple email services or programs.
3. Click Send.
4. Open the message and check for the signature image showing. Things to notice:
   – Does the image display at all?
   – Do you see a placeholder in its stead?
   – What is the image’s size? Does it show up way out of proportion?
   Advanced: Is the message’s HTML source code correct? You can check this right in Gmail, for example.

How to Fix a Gmail Signature Image Not Showing: Common Problems

It’s Them: Blocked Remote Images

If the picture displays fine for you, chances are the recipient’s email program or service is blocking remote images by default.

With Gmail, you can only insert images into your signature using remote images. To see them, recipients have to allow these images to be downloaded either globally or for you specifically. Otherwise, a Gmail signature image will not show.

It’s Some of Them: Can You Find a Pattern?

If you hear from more than one person that your Gmail signature image is not showing (but it displays fine for others), see if those with display problems do have something in common—an email program or service, for instance.

Possibly, this email program or service has problems showing remote images. Other than changes in that program, there is, alas, not much you can do.

How to Fix a Gmail Signature Image Not Showing: FAQ

What can I do to mitigate the effect of a Gmail signature image not showing?

You cannot guarantee that the image in your Gmail signature will display for recipients. It is best, therefore,

• never to include essential information only in an image.

For example, do not add your email address, website’s URL or contact information to the image in your signature. Include this information as text instead.

If the image in your signature is important for the layout, you can have email programs and services display a descriptive placeholder in the image’s stead:

1. Open your signature (including the image) in an HTML editor such as HTMLG.
2. Add the width and height of your image to the <img> tag with the width and height attributes.
3. Optionally, add a text alternative to the image using the alt attribute. This will display inside the placeholder if the image cannot be loaded.
   Example: If the code to your image is <img src="https://ladedu.com/uploads/Heinz-Tschabitscher-Logo-216x105.jpg"> and the image’s size is 216 x 105 pixels, you could make the following changes to ensure a placeholder image and a description:
   <img src="https://ladedu.com/uploads/Heinz-Tschabitscher-Logo-216x105.jpg" alt="[Logo]" width="216px" height="105px">

(How to fix a Gmail signature image not showing tested in desktop browsers; updated November 2023)