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Troubleshooting Guide: Why Are My Emails Not Loading Content?
What to Do When You’re Unable to Load Remote Content Privately
Jacob Bear
November 11th, 2024
Table of Contents
You open an email and see the words, “Message has no content.”
It’s frustrating.
Sometimes you’ll see a banner or an empty box where there should be a video or an image.
There are many reasons why your content fails to load, and fortunately, most of them are easy to fix. We’ll give you step-by-step instructions to troubleshoot content loading issues.
Understanding the Problem: “Why Are My Emails Not Loading Content?”
The most common reason a message has no content is that the privacy settings for either your email app or your device are blocking remote content. You can fix this by changing your settings.
There are several other reasons for content loading issues, such as:
Older software versions,
Temporary unresponsiveness
Corrupted apps or files.
We’ll show you how to troubleshoot these, as well.
First, let's talk about why privacy protection can render your device unable to load remote content privately.
Remote content is content that is stored in a different place than the rest of the email. You can think of it as a miniature browser showing a static web page embedded within the email.
Remote content is often used as a way to embed images in an email, and some images and other remote content can reveal your IP address to the sender. This content may track the number of times you open or view an email, or monitor your clicks and other behavior.
The privacy protection on your app or in your operating system may block content to prevent the collection of this data.
For example, Apple iOS 15 or later will hide your IP address, which can prevent remote content from loading.
Common Causes Behind 'This Message Has No Content' Error
Sometimes an entire message may consist of images or other content without any text.
If the content in an email is entirely remote, your privacy protection settings may block all of it, leading to the error, “This message has no content.”
Other causes for these errors include the need to update your software, temporary unresponsiveness, and your settings, which we’ll show you how to change to resolve the issue.
Steps to Fix Emails with No Content
Let’s start with the obvious. Verify that you’re connected to the Internet.
Next, make sure your operating system, email app, and all other software are up to date.
If the above two steps don’t help, close your email app and re-open it. If the app was temporarily unresponsive, re-opening may fix the issue.
Once you’re certain you’ve installed the latest versions, restart your device.
If updates and rebooting don’t work, it’s time to test for a few other issues.
Troubleshooting Email Client Configuration
Often there’s an issue with the configuration of your email client. An email client is the service you use to read and organize emails. For example, Gmail and Outlook are email clients.
The first troubleshooting step is a reset. We’ll show you how to do this in Outlook, which is one of the most widely used email clients:
Open the Outlook app.
Access the Menu by tapping on your Profile and tap on Settings ⚙️
Select the affected email account.
Tap “Reset Account.”
If a reset doesn’t work, try to delete the account and add it back:
Open the Outlook app.
Access the Menu by tapping on your Profile and tap on Settings ⚙️
Select your email account.
Tap Delete Account.
Then re-add the account.
If you’re using another email client, the process is similar. If your content loading issues are occurring on an iPhone, you can simply delete your mail app and reinstall it:
Press and hold the app icon
A menu of options will appear, including the choice to “remove app”
Select “remove app” and then “delete app”
Find the app in the app store and reinstall
By the way, reinstalling your mail app will not delete your email messages. Your email is stored on the internet, and the app simply enables you to view and read it. At worst, you may have to wait a few seconds as the app retrieves your email again.
Email Client Compatibility Issues
Sometimes your email client isn’t compatible with your device or operating system. This usually happens when an OS update makes the system incompatible.
The good news is your email service provider will usually hustle to release their own updates to resolve this issue (unless they enjoy losing customers). In the meantime, you may need to view your email using a different app, browser, or device.
Why Trust Me? All beehiiv writers are carefully vetted for their knowledge and experience. As a self-employed freelance writer for more than a decade, Jacob Bear has spent countless hours watching videos on how to resolve issues such as email content that won’t load. |
Privacy Settings: Unable to Load Remote Content Privately
As we mentioned above, if the sender is using remote content, the content may be blocked by your privacy settings.
When this happens, there is often a banner saying, “Load content.” You can tap this and override the privacy protection.
If you don’t have this option, try changing your privacy settings. Here’s how to do it in different systems:
On a Mac:
Go to Mail > Settings, then click Privacy. Deselect Protect Mail Activity. (Move the slider to the white/off position)
If you want to access your content but don’t want to give up privacy protection, you can then select Block All Remote Content. You will then see a banner whenever the content is blocked. You can click on the banner to see the desired content.
If none of the above strategies work, you can adjust your WiFi to enable iCloud Private Relay. This will fix the technically complicated situation in which you’re using iCloud Private Relay but haven’t enabled it:
Go to Settings > WiFi.
Click the “i” next to the network you’re connected with.
Find a slider either marked “Limit IP Address Tracking” or “iCloud Private Relay” and toggle it on/green.
Do a “force quit” on your mail app. Depending on your device, you will usually swipe up halfway, which will reveal a multitasking view. Then swipe up and off the screen. On some devices, you need to tap and hold the mail app. This will reveal a red minus sign. Then click on the minus sign.
When you reopen your mail app, the issue should be resolved.
If these measures don’t work, try whitelisting your mail app and adding it to your VPN’s Safe List.
As a last resort, you could disable your firewall or VPN software. Be aware that this leaves your device unprotected. We do not recommend doing this unless you urgently need to see the content and nothing else has worked.
If none of these solutions succeed, contact Apple support.
If Using Gmail
Sometimes your emails aren’t loading content in Gmail due to issues related to the device or browser you are using. The quick fix (although not ideal) is to simply try to view your content using a different browser or device.
If that doesn’t work, or if you want a more permanent solution, follow these steps:
Update your browser to the latest version.
Clear your browser cache and cookies, sign out, and then sign back in.
Disable ALL browser extensions, scripts, and add-ons. Then close and restart your browser.
If you’re using an app on a smartphone or tablet, remove and reinstall the app (see above).
If using Chrome, reset your Chrome browser settings.
Scan your device for malware.
If all else fails, you can temporarily disable your antivirus software.
Be aware this step will leave your device unprotected. We do not recommend this step unless you urgently need to see the content and nothing else has worked.
Advanced Troubleshooting Techniques
Other situations can cause your emails to not load content. A few examples:
Your mailbox(es) is stuffed with years’ worth of email data
Your OS can’t quickly find the relevant message data
Unintended consequences due to blocked users or Mail rules
Empty your junk/trash and spam folders. Then delete any old, unnecessary messages.
Once your mailbox is squeaky clean, temporarily turn off any rules or filters you’ve created for your email. See if that resolves the issue.
If your email is still not loading content, and you’re using iOS, you can try manually reindexing your mail data. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to Finder
Press shift/command/G
After the Go to Folder window appears, type (or copy and paste) the following file path: ~/Library/Mail/V9/MailData NOTE: Depending on which OS you’re using, the "V9" part of the above file path will be different - e.g. for macOS Ventura, it will be V10, for macOS Big Sur it will be V8.
Press Return
You should now see the MailData window. There will be several files and folders related to the Mail app. If these aren’t sorted by name, go to View > View by name.
Find the Envelope Index file and the ExternalUpdates.storedata file. Make backups of both of these. (You can simply copy them to your desktop)
If you see other files starting with "Envelope Index" and "ExternalUpdates,” delete these files
Open Mail again
When prompted to re-import your messages, click OK. (Note: You may get a warning that the index is damaged and that Mail has to quit.)
Be patient while Mail imports your messages. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to a number of hours, depending on how much data you have stored locally on your Mac.
Once complete, test Mail to see if this has resolved your issue.
Best Practices for Creators and Newsletter Operators
While fixing these content loading issues is frustrating for readers, it can be disastrous for anyone producing a newsletter. All your hard work is wasted if readers can’t load your content.
Fortunately, there are a few easy remedies to this problem. Here are some best practices to deal with readers who are unable to load content privately.
Don’t rely on images. Use text in all your emails, and include any important information in your text. For example, you may have a beautiful graphic to promote your next event, but be sure to have the date, time, and other details in the text as well.
Create and offer a plain text version of your email. Ask yourself, “Would this email be useful and effective for a reader who couldn’t see any images?” If the answer is “no,” make sure the text version is adequate by itself.
Post an online version of your newsletter, with a “Read Online” link at the top of the email.
If readers are unable to load content for any reason, they can simply view the online version of your newsletter.
Use an email platform that can manage content-loading issues for you.
If you use beehiiv, all of these best practices and more are handled for you.
Every beehiiv email you send out is automatically archived on a dedicated blog with customizable sign-up forms and other features meant to promote your content and grow your list. Readers who can’t load content can simply click over to the same email on your blog.
The platform continuously follows best practices to embed content and enhance deliverability. There are more features than we can describe in this space, but it’s well worth taking a look.
You can use our Launch plan with up to 2,500 subscribers at no cost and with no commitment, or test run of our high-powered Max plan with a free 30-day trial.
If you want to avoid content loading issues and are committed to growth and monetization, start a beehiiv newsletter.
Why Does My Email Not Load Content?
Usually, when your email is not loading content, it’s because your privacy settings are blocking certain types of content. Often this is remote content that can track data. Sometimes you will see a “view content” button to override this feature. Otherwise, you can change your privacy settings.
Why Is Content Not Showing on Email?
Content not showing on email is usually due to your privacy settings. It can also happen if you’re not using the latest version of the software. Once you update your device and your mail app, and check your settings, you will probably be able to see the missing content.
Why Is My Gmail Not Loading Content?
When Gmail is not loading content it may be due to your privacy settings blocking certain content. Check the settings in your Google account and also on your device. Next, clean out your cache and make sure the software on your device is up to date.
Why Do My Emails Say Unable to Load Content Privately?
When you are using a virtual private network (VPN) or have other privacy settings in place, various types of remote content will be blocked. You can sometimes override these settings by clicking on the “view content” banner if it appears. Otherwise, change your settings to allow remote content to be viewed.
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