Animated GIFs from e-mails

[snorkytheweasel]

Is there a way to save an animated GIF that arrives in the body of an e-mail?

[MikeyB]

Hi,

Depends what email client you are using.

But try right-clicking on the image and look for a "Save picture" or "Save image" option.

[snorkytheweasel]

Hi,

Depends what email client you are using.

But try right-clicking on the image and look for a "Save picture" or "Save image" option.

Been there, done that. Outlook 2003 lets me save as a BMP, but not in any other format. Since I can't save as a GIF, I can't save as an animated GIF. When I save as a BMP, the animation is lost. My goal is to preserve the animation.

I've also used the Copy command from within Outlook, and tried saving to Easy Animator. I have not been able to preserve the animation with that software - or any of several other graphics programs. But that could well be due to my ignorance.

[MikeyB]

Hi,

Just did a test myself as we use Outlook 2003 here, and you're right, can't seem to save it as a BMP, only as a BMP, and BMPs don't have animation.

Have to say I cannot save it as a GIF and copy & paste only gets one frame as well. It's fine when it's sent as an attachment, but when the GIF is in the body of the email can only save as a BMP, thanks Microsoft!!!

I've done a quick Google search on this, and the easiest way to get the file is to forward the email to another account that you can use a different email client, or an account on Gmail or Hotmail, and you can then save the GIF.

Mike

[snorkytheweasel]

Hi,

Just did a test myself as we use Outlook 2003 here, and you're right, can't seem to save it as a BMP, only as a BMP, and BMPs don't have animation.

Have to say I cannot save it as a GIF and copy & paste only gets one frame as well. It's fine when it's sent as an attachment, but when the GIF is in the body of the email can only save as a BMP, thanks Microsoft!!!

I've done a quick Google search on this, and the easiest way to get the file is to forward the email to another account that you can use a different email client, or an account on Gmail or Hotmail, and you can then save the GIF.

Mike

Thunderbird 2.x does it quite nicely.

[CyberDude]

I've created a macro using visual basic script that I found when I researched this issue once before. I found that the latest versions of Outlook after 97 would not store the animation as they did in earlier versions. I found a site that published the way to do this. I created a customized button in Outlook to do this for me. To use the button, you highlight the e-mail containing the animation in the InBox, and click the button. A dialog box comes up shortly thereafter asking you where to store the animations. You can browse to your favorite repository and "OK". It stores the GIF's in a funky naming convention. I rename the files to my liking and can then use them in subsequent e-mails with "Insert", "Picture", "From file" in Outlook. Here is the site that explains how to do it: http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/save ... ctures.htm

Have fun!

Denny (CyberDude)

[chrisjlocke]

Handy macro. Thanks for sharing.