When using Pidgin, there is an "insert" control between "font" and "smile". When I click on "insert" the "image" control is grayed out and does not work. How can I activate the "insert image" feature?

Can't you just use file transfer? That always works for me no problem, no need to insert an image then.

you are correct, I can do a file transfer to send a picture. When I do it that way, I can on see file names to choose from. I thought that by using that image insert, I might instead view thumb nails of my pictures instead of just file names. Of course, I could just rename my picture files so that I know that me.jpg is a picture of me.