How to send huge files from work
I’m sure most of you readers have experienced this at work: You need to email big files to clients or contacts once in a while, everything from big marketing presentations to vacation photos, but if you send anything larger than a few megabytes, chances are you’ll get an email saying you’ve hit your company’s limit.
Companies cap the amount of data employees can send and store in email for a very simple reason: They want to avoid filling up their servers, and thus slowing them down, says messaging-research firm Osterman Research Inc., of Black Diamond, Wash. And getting your company to increase your email limit can be a convoluted process.
The Trick: Use online services such as YouSendIt Inc., SendThisFile Inc. and Carson Systems Ltd.’s DropSend, which let you send large files — sometimes up to a few gigabytes in size — free of charge. To use the services, you typically have to register, supplying personal information such as name and email address. You can then enter the recipient’s email address and a message to him or her, and the site will give you instructions for uploading the file. In most cases, the site will send the recipient a link that he or she can click to download the file.
