How to Add a Background Image to an Email with Live Mail or Outlook Express

There's a lot of sophisticated stationery for Windows Live Mail, Windows Mail and Outlook Express that makes use of sounds, scripts and spectacular effects. But some of the most impressive stationery is but a wonderful background image.

If you have an image to include — a photo you took or a painting you drew, for example —, creating such stationery is remarkably simple. You can use it for the message you are currently composing only, but it's also easy to save it as a stationery for later reuse.

Add a Background Image to an Email with Windows Live Mail, Windows Mail or Outlook Express

To apply an image to the background of an email message you are composing in Windows Live Mail, Windows Mail or Outlook Express:

• ›› Step by Step Screenshot Walkthrough (using Outlook Express)

• Start with a new message in HTML format.
• Select Format | Background | Image... (or Format | Background | Picture...) from the menu.
• Use the Browse... button to select the desired image file.
• Click OK.

Stop the Image from Repeating

If you don't like how Windows Live Mail, Windows Mail and Outlook Express automatically repeat the image to the right and downwards, you can prevent this by editing your message's source.