The Best Way to Open a Video From an Email

If you can see a box that looks like a picture, the sender has embedded the video into the email. You will either see a small arrow in the center of the image or a toolbar at the bottom edge of the visible picture. If you see an arrow, left-click on it with your mouse. This should either start the video immediately or cause a small circle to begin moving in a clockwise pattern on your screen. The video has begun to load, and you will be able to see it in a few moments.

If your video has a toolbar attached to it, look for a Play button, usually on the left side of the toolbar. It looks like a small arrow or triangle pointing to the right. Left-click on the Play button, and your video should begin.

If your email contains a link to a video, simply left-click the link with your mouse. The link will take you to the site where the sender uploaded the video, and the video should start its own. If not, it probably has either the play arrow or toolbar described in Step 1 attached to it. Follow the directions in Section 1 to start your video.

You are looking at the code used to embed the video into the email. Not all email delivery systems accept embedded videos. In this case, read through the "paragraph" of code until you come to what looks like a website address---often printed in blue---with some numbers at the end of it. If the address does, in fact, appear in blue letters, it is a live link to the website where the sender uploaded the video. Left-click on that link to see your video.

If none of the code appears to be "live," your email provider may lack the ability to support this type of video. In this case, email the sender and ask her to send the video again in a different format.