I have a message (from outlook/exchange) that has a structure like so (reported by vm-mime-list-part-structure): ================= Some subject ("multipart/related" "boundary=_004_A9200AF02797C34B99E9E6666786F8003F8263A6SJCMBX01abcd_" "type=multipart/alternative") ("multipart/alternative" "boundary=_000_A9200AF02797C34B99E9E6666786F8003F8263A6SJCMBX01abcd_") ("text/plain" "charset=us-ascii") ("text/html" "charset=us-ascii") ("image/png" "name=image001.png") id="" desc="image001.png" ("inline" "filename=image001.png" "size=68890" "creation-date=Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:40 GMT" "modification-date=Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:40 GMT") ================= With either... vm-mime-type-converter-alist set to (("text/html" "text/plain" "w3m -O ascii -T text/html -dump")) or vm-mime-type-converter-alist set to nil _and_ emacs-w3m set up and working with a vm version that knows to use it. and... (a) vm-mime-internal-content-type-exceptions set to ("text/html") (which I have had set off and on over the years as the quality of vm + w3m + emacs-w3m have varied). I have to edit the multipart/related to be multipart/mixed in order to see the image attachment (invoking vm-mime-decode-mime-message once displays the text and the image buttons). In both emacs with X and emacs -nw, if I leave the multipart/related (instead of multipart/mixed) no image attachment button is visible. It is this case, where it would be nice to have the extra state in vm-decode-mime-message that allows displaying the "other" related part (at least the mime buttons for it). (b) vm-mime-internal-content-type-exceptions set to nil This is the same as (a) except that in the emacs/X case, the image is displayed inline (if you have inline images enabled). This is not the same as having the image mime button available. Here's a table that explains it better perhaps (probably best viewed on the web rendering of this bug, but we'll see what it looks like after I post it): vm-mime-internal-content-type-exceptions multipart/related emacs/X or inline image image button or multipart/mixed emacs -nw displayed available ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------------ ------------------- --------------------- ("text/html") related X no no nil related X yes no ("text/html") mixed X no yes nil mixed X yes yes ("text/html") related nw no no nil related nw no no ("text/html") mixed nw no yes nil mixed nw no yes So as you can see, there still exists a case where you cannot get to the image without editing the 'related' to be 'mixed'. In the case where you are viewing the text/plain part, you see the following text, but it's not a button you can trigger to toggle the image display or operate on the mime part (save to a file, etc.). [cid:image001.png@01CCDC22.1EAEE940] Under emacs -nw, when viewing text/html part (i.e., when you _would_ see an inline image in emacs/X), you see the following colored text under emacs -nw: [cid] (this is the same text you would see under emacs/X if inline images are disabled)