The animated graphic in my e-mail message doesn't work

Applies To
Outlook for Microsoft 365 Outlook 2024 Outlook 2021

Symptoms

When you receive an e-mail message that contains animated graphics, such as animated .gif files, only a static image appears.

Cause

By default, Outlook plays animated graphics in the body of email messages. If only the first frame of the animation appears, you have animations, or animated GIFs, disabled.

Resolution

You can enable animated GIFs in Outlook by doing one of the following:

  • In Outlook for Office 365 before version 2008, select File > Options > Advanced. In the Display section, check the box to Play animated GIFs.

  • If you have Outlook for Office 365, version 2008 or higher, use Windows 10 to enable animated GIFs.

    Click Start and type Show animations. Click the search result and under Simplify and personalize Windows, enable Show animations in Windows.

  • If you use Windows 11, use the following steps to enable animated GIFs:

    1. Press Windows + I to open Settings.

    2. Click Accessibility in the left pane.

    3. Select Visual effects on the right.

    4. Toggle Animation effects to On.

Or, you can view the email message in your browser.

View an e-mail message in your Web browser

  1. Open the message.
  2. On the Message tab, in the Move group, click Actions, and then click View in Browser.