What is Mail Drop (Mac)?

Files are often attached to emails. E-mailing an interesting text or beautiful photo is easy. But with large files, many people encounter problems. For example, think of a whole series of photos from that fun day out or that cute video of the grandchildren. These files are often too large to send with an email. In order to get them to acquaintances, friends or family, computer users turn to websites such as WeTransfer. But Mac users can also opt for another solution: Mail Drop. They do not have to leave their mail program for this.

Mail Drop is a feature in the Mail app, the default mail program on the Mac. When sending an email with a large attachment, users of this app are automatically asked if they want to send it via Mail Drop. If yes, then the attachment will be saved in their iCloud. The e-mail that is sent contains a link to the saved file. As soon as the recipient of the mail clicks on this, the file will be downloaded from iCloud. So the large file is still sent.

In order to use Mail Drop, the sender of an email needs a few things:

• A Mac, iPad or iPhone with the Mail app on it.
• An email account to sign in to the Mail app (for example, from Apple, Gmail, or Hotmail).
  • Don’t have an account? Learn how to create one in the “Mail: Getting Started Email (macOS)” article.
• An iCloud account.

The recipient of the mail only needs an e-mail program. This does not necessarily have to be Mail.

Files of up to 5GB can be sent via Mail Drop. Those files are then stored in iCloud for 30 days. Within that time, the recipient must have downloaded the photos or videos.

Enable Mail Drop like this:

• Open Finder by clicking the smiley face icon on the dock.
• In the left pane, click apps (macOS 10.15 Catalina) or Programs (macOS 10.14 Mojave).
• Double click on Mail.
• Click on the menu at the top of the screen Mail.
• click on Preferences.
• Click on the tab Accounts.
• Click the email account in the left pane.
• In the right pane, put a check in front of Send large files with Mail Drop.
• Close the window.

You have typed the mail, entered the subject and indicated who the recipient is. Now it’s time to add the attachment. Sending a file via Mail Drop works almost the same as sending a normal attachment. Proceed like this:

• Click on a paper clip icon.
• Navigate to the desired file, click on it and click Choose File.
• Click on the paper airplane icon to send the mail.
• The Mail app checks whether it is a (too) large file. If that is the case, you will be asked whether you want to use Mail Drop. click on Use Mail Drop.