Why do the links inside my email not open for me or my members?

Sometimes the links inside my email do not open for me. My members also have trouble at times accessing the links in an email that I send to them with attachments or an emailed event invitation that includes registration links. What is the problem? Am I doing something wrong? Usually not. Typically, the solution to this problem is found with the recipient of the email. Following are a couple of common reasons and their solution.

1.

The recipient may have their email program set to block email links from opening, which is the default for many email programs. To successfully open an embedded email link, the recipient needs to turn on the access to email links, either temporarily for a single email or globally for all emails. View instructions to enable links in Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007 in online help in the section “Turn on email links” in “Emails, Letters, and Mailing Lists”.

2.

Sometimes the ISP (Internet Service Provider) of the recipient may disable access to these links in an attempt to alleviate phishing1 threats from untrusted sources. If this is the case, the recipient of the email must contact their ISP and let them know that these emails, in fact, are from a trusted source and should be removed from their anti-phishing/spam filters. Contacting the ISP should only be required one time.

3.

In the case of an email that includes an embedded link to an attachment file, the sender of the email must ensure that the attachment is in a format that can be read by the recipient. For instance, an attachment file in Microsoft Word format is acceptable for anyone who has Microsoft Word installed on their computer. Those without Microsoft Word may have trouble opening and viewing this type of document. For best results, converting the desired attachment to a PDF file would put the file in a format that can be read by Adobe Reader, a free file viewer that is widely available. In addition to using Adobe Acrobat to create the PDF file, you may find several PDF creation tools available online for free.

1Phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and personal financial information