This help article is for an old version of Direct Mail.
You can add images from the web, your photo library, or anywhere on your Mac to your message. Here's how:
If you are using a modern template
- Choose Insert Content > Image from the message editor toolbar
- Click the location in your message where you want to place the image
- Click on the placeholder image and click "Replace Image"
- Select an image and click the Choose button
Instead of using the "Replace Image" button, you can also drag and drop:
- Choose Insert Content > Image from the message editor toolbar
- Click the location in your message where you want to place the image
- Drag an image (from the Finder, the web, or any other place) and drop it on the placeholder image
If you are using a legacy template
- Choose Insert Content > Image… from the message editor toolbar
- Select an image and click the Choose button
You can also drop images (from the Finder, the web, or any other place) and drop them into the body of your message, or use copy and paste.
Accessing your photo library
For your convenience, Direct Mail includes easy access to your Mac's photo library. Here's how to access it:
- Click on the photo library icon in the message editor toolbar, or
- Choose Window > Show Photo Browser from the menu bar
You can drag and drop images from your photo library onto any image or image placeholder that is already in your message, or onto any text area.
Entering text-only descriptions
It is a good idea to add text-only descriptions to the images in your message. The text-only description will be shown if the recipient's email client does not load the image itself (either due to an error or because they have image loading disabled). Here's how to add a text-only description:
- Click on an image
- Enter the text-only description
You can use the Preview window to see what your image will look like with image loading turned on and off (use the Show Images/Hide Images button to toggle).
Editing images
Direct Mail includes a built-in image editor that can be used on any image in your message, including section and template background images. Unlike a general purpose image editing app, Direct Mail's image editor is designed with email-specific use cases in mind. You'll find easy access to frequently used editing tools without getting bogged down by a lot of complexity. Learn more
Image optimization
When you send your email, Direct Mail will automatically optimize the images that are used in the email (in order to save bandwidth and keep your emails loading fast). Optimizations include (retina-aware) resampling and file-format conversion.
Animated GIFs
Direct Mail supports animated GIFs in the message body. If you use image editing tools on the animated GIF, it will stop animating and remain on the first frame.
Continuity Camera
macOS 10.14 Mojave includes a new feature called Continuity Camera. This feature allows you to take a picture on your iPhone and instantly insert it into your document on your Mac. Continuity Camera works great with Direct Mail. Here’s how to use it:
- Open Direct Mail and select the message you want to edit
- Identify the image in your message that you’d like to replace with a photo from your iPhone, or insert an image placeholder into your message (see instructions at the top of this page).
- While holding down the control key on your keyboard, click the image you want to replace.
- Select “Take Photo” from the menu that appears.
- Take the photo on your iPhone
That’s it! Once you’ve taken the photo, it will appear automatically in your message in Direct Mail.
Wrapping text around an image
The option to wrap text around an image is no longer available because Outlook (a very popular email client) does not support this type of layout. Direct Mail’s message editor gives you the tools to create designs that not only look good, but also are consistent across all popular email clients.
If you’re using a modern template (see above), you can create a similar effect by adding a two-column section to your message, then filling one column of the section with an image block, and the other column with a text block. More information about using our modern template editor can be found here.