How to send a large file by email: Attachments & file-sharing functions

What is the best way to share a large file?

 Depending on how large the file actually is, consider one of these three options:

1. Send the file as a regular email attachment
2. Compress the file by saving it in a zip format or folder
3. Use an online file-sharing service like the mail.com Cloud

Let’s take a deep dive into each of these options!

Send a large email attachment

mail.com sets an attachment size limit of 30 MB for our free email accounts – larger than almost any other free email service – and a whopping 100 MB for our Premium customers. If your attachment size falls within these limits, you can simply attach it as usual in your Compose E-mail window by clicking the paperclip symbol on the top menu bar or in the lower left corner and then selecting the file(s) from your computer hard drive or the mail.com Cloud:
 

You can send several attachments with one message; the attachment size limit is measured in terms of the total size of the attachments to a single email. So if you want to send two 20 MB attachments using your free mail.com account, you’ll have to attach them to separate messages – or consider the options below.

Compress email attachments to make them smaller

If you want to send a huge file (or lots of small files that add up to more than your attachment limit), there is a way to make it smaller. This is called “compressing” the file, although it’s also referred to as “zipping” because of the name of the most common tool used for this process. Compressing a file or large email attachment can make it roughly 50 to 90 percent smaller, depending on the file type. Several files can also be placed together in a single compressed folder. It is very easy to compress a file, and the process is similar on most computers: You simply right click your file(s) and select the relevant command, which will be something along the lines of Compress, Zip, or Send to zip folder. This will create a new file of the same name with a .zip extension, which you can now attach to your email exactly as described above. Need more help with this? Check out our blog post explaining how to zip files.

Share a file online

Attaching your file may not always be the right option: even after compression it may exceed your limit, or your recipient may have a more restrictive email limit or data plan that makes it hard for them to receive big attachments. In this case, a secure online file-sharing service is your best option, especially to send large files. mail.com customers can take advantage of our free Cloud to share files right from their inbox. This works by creating a link that you send to your recipient letting them download your file. This is an extremely secure process, and it’s even possible to set a password for opening the link. Simply upload the file in question to your Cloud. Then select the file and click Share to create a guest link:

Now you can either copy the link and paste it manually into an email or text message for your recipient, or click Send a link via email to automatically create an email containing your link. If you’d like to password-protect the link, first click Share configuration to set the password, which you can then share separately with your recipient.

Creating a share link in the mail.com mobile apps

Did you know it’s also possible to create share links in the mail.com mobile apps?  A share link is a URL of your files or folders that you can share with your friends, family and colleagues. These links can be sent via email, text message and social media platforms. Anyone who has the share link can access the files. This feature provides you with more flexibility, especially when sending files on the go. The share link feature in the mail.com app allows you to create a password to protect your share link as well as set a duration for the link to be active.

Creating a share link in the mail.com app is simple and fun. Just follow these steps:

Creating a share link in the mail.com app for iOS:

1. Open the app
2. Click the cloud icon at the bottom right
3. Select the image you want to share
4. In the bottom right hand color, select the icon with the 3 people standing
5. You then have the option to create a passcode for the share link
6. You can also adjust the duration for the link to be available
7. There are three options to copy the link to the clipboard, share directly from the mail.com app or compose an email with the link.
8. At the very bottom of the page there is the option to stop sharing the link at any time.

Creating a share link in the mail.com app for Android:

1. Open the app
2. Click the cloud icon at the bottom right
3. Select the image you want to share
4. Two options pop up; select the option labeled Link
5. Then select Create share link

Now you have the know-how to upload files three different ways!

We hope this article will be useful next time you want to send a large file! Please give us your feedback below.

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