You’ve come across it once or twice, typically when you need to get that final document sent at the last minute by email. You attach all of the files to your message and hit send. And then almost instantly you get a non-delivery message telling you the message was too large to send!
Why is this happening?
Email is meant to electronically send a message from one person to another. It isn’t designed to carry large movies or image files that we frequently try to send today.
The same way a postcard goes through multiple post offices on its way to a recipient, an email goes from server to server before finally reaching its destination. Along the way, some servers may decide the file is too large to handle, so it politely rejects the message and then notifies you of the non-delivery. It would be helpful if they gave you an alternative instead of a rejection notice.
What can you do?
Professionals today need a way to get these larger files to the people that need the data. For those times when you need to send the pictures from the last corporate outing or when you need to get a training video to a colleague, you can use simple tools like WeTransfer.com. Tools like this get around the email attachment size issues by actually storing the files on servers that can hold large files and send the recipient a link to download the files from that location.
This is all well and good for non-sensitive one-off information, but if this is a regular occurrence for your organization you may want to consider a collaboration tool like SharePoint from Office 365. SharePoint will allow you to upload a file to a document library, then provide you with a link to give to someone else so they can access the information.
Here’s a quick set of instructions on how to do this with SharePoint:
- Upload the document to a SharePoint document library
- Select the file and choose Share
- Select Get a Link
- Select Create Link
- Copy the link SharePoint provided
- Paste the link into an email and send to the people you want to provide access
Your recipient will be able to download the file using the link you provide to them. By using SharePoint, you can also disable the link if you no longer want to share the document. And once more, you can avoid the rejection notice from your email provider.