Sending large files, such as photos, is not always possible via the mail program. Check out five ways to send the large files anyway.
Too big
It is often not possible to send large files via e-mail. Many e-mail programs have a limit on the size of attachments. Users are then only allowed to send 5 or 10 MB at a time. They have to find another solution to still send the files. There are several options for sending large files:
- Split across multiple emails.
- Compress files and then send them via email.
- Send via special websites.
- Send via AirDrop (for Apple devices only)
- Save to the cloud and share.
Email large files
Despite the attachment size limit, people can still send large files with the email program. One can divide the files over multiple emails. Then don’t use more than two or three emails, otherwise it will be confusing.
Compress files
Another option is to compress; convert the files to a zip file and thus reduce the file size. The zip file can then be sent by email. The recipient unpacks the zip file again and has the files in their original size on the computer. Read more about this in the tip ‘Creating and opening zip files’.
Send files via services
There are various services online that allow internet users to send large files for free. The best known is WeTransfer. Via WeTransfer, users share no less than 2 GB of documents, photos, videos, presentations and other files. It doesn’t matter if it’s one very large file or many small ones, as long as it stays under 2 GB. See how that works in the article ‘Sending large files with WeTranfser’. Similar services are DropSend, jump share, TransferXL and SendAnywhere.
Share files via AirDrop
Transfer large files between Apple devices? Then AirDrop is a handy way. The disadvantage is that the sender and receiver must be close to each other to send the files. Learn more about this capability in the “Share files via AirDrop on iPhone, iPad, or Mac” article.
cloud
Finally, it is also possible to use cloud services for sending large files. The best-known cloud services are iCloud, OneDrive, Google and Dropbox. Mostly, people use cloud services as a personal backup of files. But they can also be used to share files. The steps for this are a bit more difficult than the aforementioned options. In the article ‘What is the cloud?’ we explain everything about storage in the cloud.