When Not to Paste Images into Community Content

When you want to add image files to your e-blasts, Newsfeed posts, and website content, remember always to attach or embed these images rather than paste them in.

Here’s why, along with the consequences of adding pasted visuals.

E-blasts

You already may have gone to
Membership > Members > Message Filtered Members
and activated the second toggle switch so you can compose and send an e-blast to your Members. If you haven’t yet explored this feature, keep it in mind as a quick and effective way to reach everyone in your community whose e-mail address and Member Details you have added through Member import, manual data entry, or via Member registration on your public website.

When you send e-blasts, you may want to add images within the body of the message. But don’t just paste them in from Preview, Paint, Photoshop, or some other image-editing program. When you do that, you can see the images before you send the e-blast—but with rare exceptions, recipients of your message will not see the images at all.

To add images to your message, use either of the following two methods.

  1. Attach the image file(s) to your e-blast.
    This is the easiest way to accomplish this objective.

    1. Below the window in which you compose your message, you’ll find the “Upload photos or documents” controls. Click on the “Browse” button and navigate to a file on your computer or other device. Now, attach this file to the message. This approach enables you to incorporate file types that you wouldn’t be able to paste into the message in the first place, such as spreadsheets, word processing documents, PDF files, and much more.

      2. NOTE: The total of all your file attachments—and any embedded images—must be less than 15 MB in size, or the message will not be transmitted.

  2. Embed the image file(s) in your e-blast message itself.
    This accomplishes what the act of pasting in the graphic is meant to achieve: An inline image that’s part of the message itself, not an attachment. This approach requires several steps.

    1. Add your graphic file to your Document Repository at
      Features > Documents
      Both your file itself and the folder you create for it must be set to be visible to the public.
    2. Once you’ve uploaded your file appropriately, in the Actions column, click on the “Copy File Link” icon. You won’t see anything happen, but the link to your file is copied to your clipboard.
    3. Now, go to
      Membership > Members > Message Filtered Members
      to create your e-blast.
    4. Click within the message window where you want your graphic to appear.
    5. In the toolbar above the message-editing window, click on the Image tool.
    6. Paste the link to your graphic into the URL box in the “Image Properties” window.
    7. You can set the width and height of your image, and other properties, if you wish.
    8. Click on the “OK” button to save your image-embedding changes.
    9. Finish composing your e-blast and send it out.

      10. NOTE: The total of all your embedded and attached images must be less than 15 MB in size, or the message will not be transmitted.

Newsfeed posts

Believe it or not, pasting an image into a Newsfeed post may look like it’s a faster route to your goal than attaching or embedding the file itself, but—for two reasons—it’s not.

  • When you paste images into your Newsfeed posts, you slow down the responsiveness of your entire website.
  • Pasted-in images do not show up in your Newsfeed posts.

So for these two very good reasons, don’t paste graphics into your Newsfeed posts. Instead, either attach or embed them. Here’s how.

  1. Attach the image file(s) to your post.
    This is the easiest way to accomplish this objective.

    1. Go to
      Manage Site > Public Site
      and navigate to your Newsfeed page.
    2. Click on the “+ Create” button at the bottom of the window to create a new post. To edit an existing post, click on the three-dots menu at the top right of the individual post, and choose “Edit.”
    3. Below the window in which you compose your post, you’ll find the “Upload photos or documents” controls. Click on the “Browse” button and navigate to a file on your computer or other device. Now, attach this file to the message.

      4. NOTE: Make sure your image is less than 15 MB in size, or you won’t be able to attach it.

  2. Embed the image file(s) in your Newsfeed post itself.
    This approach requires several steps.

    1. Add your graphic file to your Document Repository at
      Features > Documents
      Both your file itself and the folder you create for it must be set to be visible to the public, and your file must be smaller than 15 MB in size.
    2. Once you’ve uploaded your file appropriately, in the Actions column, click on the “Copy File Link” icon. You won’t see anything happen, but the link to your file is copied to your clipboard.
    3. Now, go to
      Manage Site > Public Site
      and navigate to your Newsfeed page.
    4. Click on the “+ Create” button at the bottom of the window to create a new post. To edit an existing post, click on the three-dots menu at the top right of the individual post, and choose “Edit.”
    5. Click within the post window where you want your graphic to appear.
    6. In the toolbar above the post-editing window, click on the Image tool.
    7. Paste the link to your graphic into the URL box in the “Image Properties” window.
    8. You can set the width and height of your image, and other properties, if you wish.
    9. Click on the “OK” button to save your image-embedding changes.
    10. Finish creating or editing your Newsfeed post and click on the “Post” button.

Text-based website content widgets

Yes, you can paste a graphic into a text-based website page content widget, but although you may see it in Site Setup, it won’t show up on your public site.

  1. Embed the image file(s) in your e-blast message itself.
    This incorporates the image within the text widget. This approach requires several steps.

    1. Add your graphic file to your Document Repository at
      Features > Documents
      Both your file itself and the folder you create for it must be set to be visible to the public. Your image file must be less than 15 MB in size, or you will not be able to upload it to your Document Repository.
    2. Once you’ve uploaded your file appropriately, in the Actions column, click on the “Copy File Link” icon. You won’t see anything happen, but the link to your file is copied to your clipboard.
    3. Now, go to
      Manage Site > Site Setup
      to add your image to a website page.
    4. In the vertical Site Setup menu at the left, locate the page to which you want to add the graphic. Click on the name of the page to load the page for editing.
    5. Place your cursor over the text-based widget into which you want to add the graphic. The editing control sheet appears. Click on the “Edit Paragraph” or “Edit Contact Info” link to bring up the editing window.
    6. Click within the content window where you want your graphic to appear.
    7. In the toolbar above the content-editing window, click on the Image tool.
    8. Paste the link to your graphic into the URL box in the “Image Properties” window.
    9. You can set the width and height of your image, and other properties, if you wish.
    10. Click on the “OK” button to save your changes.
    11. Click on the “Save and Publish” button at the top right of the window to make your changes visible on your public site.