Web client ignores settings and loads images and tracking pixels in junk emails

Namjies 5 Reputation points
2026-11-05T04:16:48.95+00:00

As title says. I have option to use Outlook service proxy to load image, as well as block attachment/images for anyone not in safe sender list.

outlook setting

outlook images and tracking pixels

That is the one place I especially don't want images to be loaded automatically, or without proxy. It's been like this for many weeks and I'm starting to get a ton of spam. Would appreciate a fix. I'm pretty sure there is no more settings anywhere else to prevent this behavior?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

1 answer

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Kai-H 30,480 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-11-05T09:21:31.5966667+00:00

    Hi, @Namjies

    Thanks for the screenshots. They show that the tracking pixel in that junk email uses an image link starting with just "//" instead of "https://". Outlook on the web flags it as a broken link, but the browser still loads it directly from the spammer's site. That means it skips both your block setting and the image proxy. There's no other setting that controls this, so it looks like a bug on Microsoft's side.

    Here are some suggestions you can try:

    Report it from inside Outlook.com by clicking Help > Feedback and attaching the same screenshots. The Outlook team needs to fix how the junk folder handles these links, so specific reports like yours help.

    Until it's fixed, don't open junk emails in the browser. Go to Settings > Mail > Layout > Reading pane and choose Hide reading pane. Then you can tick the checkboxes and delete junk mail without opening anything. You can also right-click the Junk Email folder and pick Empty folder. A tracking pixel only loads when the message is actually opened.

    If you need to look at junk mail, use the Outlook mobile app with Block external images turned on. That setting stops tracking images from loading in the reading pane on mobile. In classic Outlook for desktop, junk messages open as plain text, so tracking pixels can't load there either.

    Your setting is still working in the inbox, so you shouldn't need to change anything there.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.