diff --git a/includes/mimemail.admin.inc b/includes/mimemail.admin.inc
index 464863a..d7ad8b8 100644
--- a/includes/mimemail.admin.inc
+++ b/includes/mimemail.admin.inc
@@ -57,6 +57,12 @@ function mimemail_admin_settings() {
     '#default_value' => variable_get('mimemail_textonly', FALSE),
     '#description' => t('This option disables the use of email messages with graphics and styles. All messages will be converted to plain text.'),
   );
+  $form['mimemail']['mimemail_linkonly'] = array(
+    '#type'          => 'checkbox',
+    '#title'         => t('Link images only'),
+    '#default_value' => variable_get('mimemail_linkonly', 0),
+    '#description'   => t('This option disables the embedding of images. All image will be available as external content. This can make email messages much smaller.'),
+  );
 
   // Get a list of all formats.
   $formats = filter_formats();
diff --git a/mimemail.inc b/mimemail.inc
index 7ff17ba..01c81ca 100644
--- a/mimemail.inc
+++ b/mimemail.inc
@@ -544,6 +544,12 @@ function _mimemail_url($url, $embed_file = NULL) {
     $url = str_replace(' ', '%20', $url);
     return $url;
   }
+  // If the image embedding is disabled, return the absolute URL for the image.
+  elseif (variable_get('mimemail_linkonly', 0) && preg_match('!\.(png|gif|jpg|jpeg)$!i', $url)) {
+    $url = $base_url . $url;
+    $url = str_replace(' ', '%20', $url);
+    return $url;
+  }
 
   $url = preg_replace( '!^' . base_path() . '!', '', $url, 1);
 
diff --git a/mimemail.install b/mimemail.install
index e795f11..68da95c 100644
--- a/mimemail.install
+++ b/mimemail.install
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ function mimemail_uninstall() {
     'mimemail_mail',
     'mimemail_format',
     'mimemail_simple_address',
+    'mimemail_linkonly',
   );
   foreach ($variables as $variable) {
     variable_del($variable);