Delete embedded image in Thunderbird e-mail message

20 May, 2017 - 11:35
Thunderbird plain text

If you have an image file attached to a Thunderbird e-mail message, it's easy to delete at the bottom of the message, by right-clicking and selecting Detach. But if the image is embedded, you don't have that option.

To detach embedded images in a Thunderbird e-mail message, the easiest method is to set mailnews.display.show_all_body_parts_menu to True under Edit → Preferences → Config Editor. Now, a fourth option will be available under View → Message Body As → All Body Parts.

View > Message Body As > Original HTML
The embedded images are not listed:

View → Message Body As → All Body Parts (new 4th option)
The embedded images can now be detached:

Comments

Submitted by Hannes (not verified) on 1 September, 2017 - 14:37

Great tip - nice and quick

Submitted by Alex (not verified) on 20 August, 2018 - 12:18

Can´t believe it was this easy and obvious! I´ve looked for add-ons several times throughout the years and decided to give it another go - finally a solution to get rid of those huge images stuck in my emails! Thanks :)

Submitted by Vlada Macek (not verified) on 17 September, 2018 - 15:34

You saved my disk space!
This is Thunderbird shortcomming...

Submitted by John (not verified) on 10 August, 2020 - 02:18

Doesn't work w/ TBird 68 - imbedded image is shown as a link, not an attachment. Can't be deleted.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 4 November, 2021 - 17:09

Alternatively, you can use the extension 'Show All Body Parts' (for Thunderbird 68.0a1 - 71.*), which allows you to show any message part as an attachment (and delete it).

Submitted by Jay L (not verified) on 4 February, 2022 - 12:40

Yes, exactly. I haven't found a method to remove them. The only option appears to be deleting the whole message.

Submitted by Björn (not verified) on 15 July, 2022 - 12:22

Wow, no need for the add-on "strip inline images". Thank you!

Submitted by el_schalo (not verified) on 30 July, 2022 - 09:54

No "Config Editor" nor "show all body parts" anymore. Only showing body source code is possible. But despite it having mostly a lot of base64-encoded stuff in it, it is also not editable. So what to do in Thunderbird 91.11.0?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 6 August, 2022 - 16:45

Config Editor should still be available in Thunderbird 91.11.0: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/config-editor

Submitted by Peter (not verified) on 26 September, 2022 - 19:34

If you display your messages as text only the embedded images are shown as attachments as well

regards

Submitted by Alain (not verified) on 19 April, 2023 - 12:31

Not always : some mailers (as Outlook) embed some images in a way that they do not appear with the Display as "Text".
The mentionned setting adds a fourth option that can help handling suche files.
I have been lookin for that for years, thanks !