My problem is that I can’t get a chosen background image to transmit with e-mail messages. I go through the ‘Format’ menu > ‘Background’ > ‘Picture’ to select a background but it doesn’t send. I have also tried ‘Format’ menu > ‘Apply Stationery’ but the same negative result applies. Looks great on my screen. Hope you can help.

Your description of the process you are using to set the background image on emails, suggests to me that you are using Outlook Express. Let’s work through this problem to find the source and then (hopefully) find a fix. Firstly, let’s narrow the problem down to either your computer or an external factor such as your ISP’s mail server. Compose an email with the recipient as yourself (ie. you’re sending an email to yourself) and place a background image on the email. Once this has been done, send the email to yourself. Wait a few seconds and then collect your email (by pressing the ‘Send/Recv’ button in Outlook Express). View the email you just sent to yourself and expect that the email will come through with no background image. Now, go into the ‘Sent Items’ folder in Outlook Express. Look at the copy of the email you sent to yourself in that folder. You will see one of two scenarios:
(i) the email has the background image
(i) the email has no background image
If you end up with scenario (i) where the email has the background image, then it looks like your email server is stripping the HTML from the email when it is sent. This would explain why your email client sends the email with the background image but the recipient receives it without a background image. As this problem occurs with all people you send email to, it looks like the problem would be with your email server rather than the recipients. If this is the case, I suggest you contact your ISP and explain your problem to them.

However, if you have scenario (ii) where the email has no background image, then the problem seems to be with your email client Outlook Express. Let’s have a look in Outlook Expresses’ settings. In Outlook Express, go to the ‘Tools’ menu > ‘Options’. In the window which appears, click the ‘Send’ tab. On this tab, ensure that under ‘Mail Sending Format’ it is set to ‘HTML’. Click the ‘Apply’ button and then (still under the ‘Mail Sending Format’ heading) press the ‘HTML Settings…’ button. In the window that appears, ensure that ‘Send pictures with messages’ is ticked. Click the ‘Ok’ button to close that window and then the ‘Ok’ button again to close the other window. Send an email with a background to see if this has worked. If it hasn’t, then your next best bet would be to upgrade to Internet Explorer 5.5 and Outlook Express 5.5 in the hope that this would fix your problem. As IE 5.5 is a big download, I suggest that you try and get it on CD. You should be able to find a copy of it on the cover CD of most computer magazines (have a look in the magazine at the contents of the CD). Apart from this, I don’t have any other solutions except considering moving to another email client such as Eudora which can be downloaded for free from www.eudora.com . It offers the feature of HTML mail which will allow you to embed graphics into your email and thus you should be able to place a background image in your emails as well.