Toggle HTML graphics on/off in Mail.app — 25 Jan 2003

HTML formatted e-mail may be pleasing to the eye, but they are one of the spammer's main tool to help them validate your e-mail address. Two recent Apple KnowledgeBase articles explain what the risks are and how to toggle the graphics on and off.

• Mac OS X Mail: How HTML Email Messages Relate to Unsolicited Commercial Email ("spam")
• Mac OS X Mail: How to Turn On or Off HTML Rendering

A previous Checkbox article (March 2000, in French) explains in detail how you can loose your anonymity simply by reading your e-mail.

A recent MacMegaSite tip provides you with an AppleScript to automate the operation:

tell application "Mail"
set showgfx to not (download html attachments)
set download html attachments to showgfx
if showgfx is true then
say "Graphics on"
else
say "Graphics off"
end if
end tell