In large bandgap semiconductors and insulators, the threshold energies for e–h pair production and ionization damage can lie above the vacuum level. For low energy imaging, a window is then opened whose width is potentially sensitive to local changes in work function, doping level, or acidity. Recent progress and future opportunities for damage-free imaging of these properties using low energy electrons are discussed in the light of the underlying physics, as well as of recent instrumental developments in low energy electron microscopy (LEEM), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM), scanned probe microscopy (SPM), and projection electron microscopy.