Hosting your exported email images

You have the option to self-host your exported image files, or have Emailify automatically upload them for you to our own CDN.

Using the Emailify image hosting CDN (default) ​

For HTML exports, by default, Emailify will export your HTML emails with any images saved alongside the .html files, so you can upload them wherever you like.

However, if you want to use the Emailify CDN (content delivery network) to host your images for you, you can enable the Upload Hosted Image URLs toggle. This will upload your images and automatically swap out the URLs in your HTML email to point to the uploaded files.

If you're using any of the built-in email marketing platform integrations, your images will automatically be uploaded to the Emailify CDN.

Uploading image assets to your own self-hosted Cloud Storage bucket ​

By default, Emailify will use the Emailify CDN (content delivery network) to host your images for you, but you can optionally swap this out to use your own cloud storage service bucket (for example, AWS S3 or Backblaze B2 instead.

Once you select the image hosting service you'd like to use, you need to enter your bucket credentials and details below, which will automatically upload your image assets to your own bucket (and use your bucket image path in the src attributes of your HTML <img> tags) during the export process:

  • Region (for example, us-east-1)
  • Access Key (for example, 003g8...)
  • Secret Access Key (for example, K454q...)
  • Bucket Name (for example, my-emailify-bucket)
  • Bucket URL (for example, https://my-emailify-bucket.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/)

Please ensure any buckets you create are set to Public access view permissions, otherwise the uploaded image URLs won't be accessible when the HTML email is sent out

Cloudflare R2 addresses ​

R2 uses two separate addresses. Enter both in the image hosting settings:

  • S3 API endpoint: copy the endpoint from your Cloudflare account, such as https://accountid.r2.cloudflarestorage.com. Keep any jurisdiction segment shown by Cloudflare, such as .eu. Enter your bucket name in R2 Bucket Name.
  • Public image URL: use a custom domain connected to the bucket, such as https://images.example.com/, or its enabled public r2.dev URL. The S3 API endpoint is authenticated and cannot serve as the public image URL in an email.

If you previously saved the S3 API endpoint in the URL field, Emailify moves it into S3 API endpoint. Add your public image URL before exporting again. If you already saved a public domain, it is kept; add the separate API endpoint if it is missing. Your access keys and bucket name are kept.

See Cloudflare's S3 API endpoint guide and public bucket access guide.

Mailchimp image hosting errors ​

When exporting directly to Mailchimp, Emailify checks the image folder, existing files and uploaded image URLs. If Mailchimp rejects an image request, the export reports the error and does not create the template with unconfirmed image URLs. Check your Mailchimp connection and API key, then export again.

Supported self-hosted cloud storage service options in Emailify ​

You can self-host the exported images from Emailify in any of the S3-compatible object storage services below:

Setting a custom base URL to self-host the exported email images on your own server or CDN ​

By default, the src for all the images in your HTML exported by Emailify will be a relative img/ path (for example, img/ceb3f891b78815897e04299f93eef255.jpg); this lets you Review your email and upload a zip to certain platforms like MailChimp, which will automatically upload the images and update the src URLs for you.

However, if you're using a platform that doesn't support this feature or are just hosting the images on your own custom server, you may want to set your own custom base URL instead.

Per-Email Custom Base URL ​

You can set a custom base URL for individual emails by selecting your main email Figma frame, clicking the Settings button in the plugin header, then enabling the Override "img/" Base Path toggle and pasting in your own base URL path where the images are going to be hosted; enabling the custom base URL will automatically prefix all of the image src attributes for your images (for example, replacing img/ with https://your-custom-server.com/image/path/here/ in the exported HTML file).

This per-email setting is ideal when you need different base URLs for specific campaigns or want to override the global CDN setting for individual emails.

Global Custom CDN Base URL ​

If you're consistently hosting images on the same custom CDN or server across all your emails, you can set a global custom base URL instead of configuring it for each email individually:

  1. In the export settings panel, locate the CDN dropdown menu
  2. Select Custom Base URL from the list of CDN options
  3. Enter your custom base URL in the input field that appears (e.g., https://cdn.example.com/images/)
  4. All exported emails will now use this base URL for image paths by default

The global custom CDN setting provides a convenient way to standardize image hosting across your email campaigns. If both global and per-email custom base URLs are configured, the per-email setting takes priority, giving you flexibility to override the global CDN when needed for specific campaigns.

Whether using global or per-email settings, ensure your custom base URL is publicly accessible and properly configured with CORS settings if required. The URL can include or omit a trailing slash, Emailify will handle both formats correctly.

Why are images not rendering in my exported HTML email? ​

Email images usually fail to render after sending when the image files are not hosted at public online URLs, the email was sent from a tool that rewrote the HTML, or the recipient email client blocked remote images.

If you export HTML with local img/ paths, the images are saved next to the .html file and must be uploaded with the email template or hosted separately. If you enable Upload Hosted Image URLs, Emailify uploads the images and swaps the HTML image URLs to hosted links automatically.

Why do images work locally but not after sending? ​

A local HTML preview can load images from the exported img/ folder on your computer. Once the email is sent, recipients cannot access files on your computer, so the images need to be hosted online or uploaded through your ESP.

Gmail and Outlook are not reliable ways to send exported custom HTML because they can change the markup and do not handle image hosting for a bulk HTML email workflow. Use an ESP or one of Emailify's built-in integrations instead.

What should I check first if exported images are broken? ​

  • Make sure the images are hosted at public https:// URLs, or upload the exported img/ folder through your ESP.
  • Enable Upload Hosted Image URLs if you want Emailify to upload image assets for you.
  • If using a custom bucket or CDN, make sure the bucket allows public read access for the uploaded image URLs.
  • If an upload fails, check whether a VPN, firewall, proxy, or company network is blocking the upload request.
  • Wait for Figma images to finish loading in the file before exporting.
  • Remember that some email clients block remote images until the recipient chooses to display them.

Custom hosting connection errors ​

For Amazon S3, Emailify constructs the upload endpoint from your selected Region and Bucket Name. The Bucket URL is the public base URL used for images in your exported email; changing it does not change the upload endpoint.

Enter the complete bucket name, including any account ID and region suffix. For example, an account regional bucket named my-email-images-123456789012-ap-southeast-2-an uses region ap-southeast-2 and a bucket URL of https://my-email-images-123456789012-ap-southeast-2-an.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/. AWS supports both global and account regional bucket names.

The IAM identity behind your access key needs s3:PutObject on arn:aws:s3:::YOUR-BUCKET-NAME/* to upload images. Emailify does not need public write access or permission to create or delete buckets. Additional restrictions in your AWS policies or encryption settings can still prevent uploads; see AWS permissions guidance.

The exported image URLs must also be readable without signing in. Use a public image bucket or a public CDN backed by your bucket, and check an individual uploaded image URL in a private browser window. Keep unrelated private files in separate storage; do not make them public to enable email images.

If an export reports Image hosting failed, retry the export after fixing the connection or permissions. A successful email template upload does not mean its images were uploaded successfully. If the error persists, send the error message or a screenshot to support, without including your access key or secret key.