How to Email Large Files

Last Updated: August 18, 2022

Email was not designed for sending large files, and almost all mail servers will only allow attachments of 10 MB. Yahoo and Gmail will allow up to 20 MB, but if you have a large email to send, such as a group of photos, video files or other large attachments, the email will not go through. There are various methods to email large files.

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Compressing your Files

1
Research the various zip programs that are available. Most modern operating systems have an archiving utility built in. There are also many other applications that can be downloaded for free or relatively low cost. Have a look at PentaZip, PicoZip, PKZIP, PowerArchiver, StuffIt and WinZip.
2
Install the chosen utility on your computer.

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3
Create a zip file by right clicking the file, and click on “Add to Zip file” or “Add to Archive.”
4
Open an email, click “insert” or “attach,” depending on your software, browse for the zip file and double click it in order to attach it to the message.
5
Be aware that the recipient has to also have a utility on his computer to “Unzip” the file. This capability is built in to recent versions of Windows.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Splitting the Files into Manageable Sizes

1
Split the file up into smaller files by using WinRar, a utility that the recipient also has to have on his computer to join the files together again. This program can also compress files like a zip program.
2
Install the WinRar software on your computer.
3
Open the program.
4
Select the file you wish to compress or split up and click “Add to Archive.”
5
Select the size of each “Rar” file you want to end up with. A drop down menu will give you choices.
6
Click “OK” and wait for the process to complete. WinRar will place the new files in the same folder as your original file.
7
Open your Email software and insert or attach the separate Rar files, being careful to keep the total in each email to under the size permitted by your email provider (usually 10MB).

Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Sharing Files using Dropbox

1
Sign up for Dropbox.com. You can use 2 GB of space for free.
2
Run the Dropbox installation process. Click “Yes” to accept the settings and follow instructions to get Dropbox set up.
3
Upload your files to Dropbox using either the Dropbox.com or the Dropbox folder on your computer.
4
Use the sharing feature on Dropbox to share the file with anyone you’d like. You can either share directly from the Dropbox folder on your computer, or from Dropbox.com.
- From the Dropbox folder on your computer, right click on the file or folder you’d like to share, and select “Share Dropbox Link.” This will copy the link to the file to your clipboard. Paste this into your email to share.
- From your Dropbox account online, right click on the file or folder you would like to share. Select “Share link.” Add the email address of the recipient, and a message in the box on the next screen. Click “Send.”

Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Using Google Drive

1
Sign up for Google Drive if it is not already on your computer.
2
Open Google Drive.
3
Click the upward arrow next to “Create” in the window.
4
Browse for the file you wish to share. Double click the file and wait for Google Drive to finish uploading it to the shared drive.
5
Click the “share” icon. Add the email address of the recipient to the list of people the document is shared with (this is the “Invite People” field). Select your sharing preferences to either allow the recipient to simply be able to view the file, or to edit the file in Google Drive.
6
Decide how you’d like to share the article. You can either have an email notification sent directly from Google Drive, or you can simply copy the URL that is at the top of the sharing settings.
7
Click done to share the article.

Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Using Other Online “Cloud” Services to Transfer Files

1
Research the many services available.
- yousendit.com lets you send files up to 100 MB for free.
- SugarSync offers online storage of up to 5 GB.
- We Transfer allows files up to 2 GB. There is no sign up necessary. You can also specify that the recipient uses a password to access the files.
- SkyDrive is from Microsoft. Hotmail or Outlook will automatically tell you to use the SkyDrive account if you attempt to send an email that is too large to send.

Warnings

Be aware that with the online “cloud” services, you will have a link that can be opened by anyone, unless you use a service that requires a password.

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Some services will only keep the files for a few days so it is a good idea to warn the recipient that the link to your files will be arriving if you are using that sort of service.

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