| "At last!", you cry as you complete the finishing | | | | uploading your large email attachments. The large |
| touches to the project that you have devoted a lot | | | | attachment, which can be any file type, is then put |
| of time and energy to- which could be anything from | | | | on a server and your recipient is sent an email from |
| a Powerpoint presentation for work, editing your | | | | the service with a link to the attachment, including |
| corporate video, cropping and resizing photos, to | | | | your original message. The recipient(s) then click on |
| completing your dissertation paper for school. | | | | the link to download the file(s). This gets round the |
| However you soon discover that your work is not | | | | limitations of your and your recipients mail server |
| done when you realise that you can't email it out to | | | | problems. |
| the right people. Why? Because your email server | | | | There are many large file sending services available |
| isn't capable of handling attachments of the size that | | | | with the most well known being YouSendIt, |
| your all-singing and all-dancing software can produce. | | | | MailBigFile, CuteSendIt and Tonsho. They all offer |
| As far as your mail server is concerned, you are | | | | free and paid accounts with the paid accounts |
| trying to mail a hippo! | | | | enabling you to send larger files and providing |
| Most email servers can't handle large email | | | | business functionality such as the ability to brand up |
| attachments which creates a two-fold problem. | | | | the download page. The major differences between |
| When sending an email attachment the maximum size | | | | each of these services is the size of file you can |
| you can send depends not only on the attachment | | | | send through them. |
| size limit that your own mail system has but also on | | | | While the typical size of file you can send through |
| the size that the recipients' mail system will accept. | | | | one of their free accounts is fairly standard at around |
| Gmail , Hotmail and Yahoo have limits of 25Mb, 10Mb, | | | | 100Mb the difference between them is the maximum |
| and 20Mb respectively. For a list of the most | | | | file size you can send through them with a paid |
| common email providers and their attachment limits, | | | | account. While YouSendIt, MailBigFile and CuteSendIt |
| click here. Using the photo example, when you | | | | let you send files up to a maximum 2Gb in size, |
| consider that a typical JPEG format file on a 10 | | | | Tonsho stands out as enabling you to send files up |
| megapixel camera is typically around 3Mb or in the | | | | to 5Gb with their accounts. Considering that the |
| larger RAW data format is around 10Mb you can | | | | software we have sat on our PCs and Macs is |
| see that you don't need to email many photos | | | | generally churning out larger and larger files with each |
| before your email service will grind to a halt. In short, | | | | new release (even if you are not creating fancier |
| the end result is that the sums just don't add up and | | | | files) then making sure you use a service that will |
| you end up with your email program going on strike | | | | meet your needs now and in the future wouldn't be |
| or emails being bounced back telling you that your | | | | such a bad idea. If you are producing large pdf |
| hippo is undeliverable. | | | | documents, presentations and average sized videos |
| So how do you get round this? One approach | | | | that you need to share by email then you will need a |
| involves splitting your files so that you can send | | | | 5Gb service to meet your needs now. |
| them through your usual email servers. However, this | | | | If you are unsure of which service is going to suit |
| is rather old school and involves your recipient having | | | | you the best and whether you do want to put your |
| to glue the file back together once they have | | | | hand in your pocket, starting out with a free |
| received it. This is just hassle everyone could do | | | | account, even if it is just to do some trial sends of |
| without. | | | | smaller files is probably the best place to start. You |
| A much cleaner and user friendly approach is to use | | | | can then get a feel for the service and its usability. |
| a large file sending service. The basic idea is that you | | | | Click here to try one out today! |
| send an email using their web-based services, | | | | |