Send files over 25 MB

What SendTheStuff will do with a file your inbox won't take

Every inbox limit applies to what's inside the email. SendTheStuff will keep the file out of the email altogether, so none of those limits will matter.

• One link for any inbox. SendTheStuff will give you a short link to paste into Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook.com, Apple Mail or a work account. No attachment limit will catch a single line of text.
• Or the email sent for you. SendTheStuff will also be able to email the link to up to 10 people, with their replies coming back to you.
• The original file, untouched. Nothing will be compressed, resized or re-encoded, so the person you email will download exactly what you sent.
• Room for the big stuff. SendTheStuff will take up to 5 GB per transfer free, spread across as many as 1,000 files, or a whole folder from a computer.
• A link that cleans up after itself. SendTheStuff's links will work for 14 days, then the files will be deleted. Nothing will linger in your Google or Microsoft storage.

Nothing else about emailing will change. You'll still write the message in the app you always use, and paste the link where the attachment would have gone.

The limit in every major inbox

Work and school accounts are different: in Google Workspace and on company mail servers, an administrator sets the limit. Microsoft 365 work mailboxes default to 35 MB for sending.

Why a file under the limit can still bounce

Two things catch people out.

Encoding makes attachments bigger. Email can only carry text, so attachments are converted to a text format called base64 before they're sent. The standard that defines it (RFC 2045) says the result is about 33 percent larger than the original file. A file that's just under the limit on your computer can be over it by the time it's in the email.

Both ends have a limit. Your provider checks the message when you send it, and the recipient's provider checks it when it arrives. Yahoo, for one, applies its limit to incoming mail too. The smallest limit on the way decides whether the email gets through.

What "file too large" looks like in each app

• Gmail doesn't show an error. It quietly removes the attachment and puts in a Google Drive link instead, which uses your Google storage.
• Classic Outlook for Windows stops you with: "The file you're attaching is bigger than the server allows. Try putting the file in a shared location and sending a link instead."
• Mail on an iPhone, when the file is over your account's limit, asks you to follow the onscreen instructions to send it using Mail Drop.
• Yahoo Mail won't send a message whose attachments total more than 25 MB.

Why the usual workarounds fall short

Each of these gets a big file past an inbox limit. Each one also leaves you with a catch.

Zipping can't beat the limit for media. A zip only shrinks what isn't compressed yet. Zip a 200 MB phone video and you still have roughly 200 MB to email.

Splitting turns one file into homework. A batch of photos can go over several emails, a few at a time. One big video needs a file-splitting app at your end, and the same app at theirs to put it back together.

Cloud links cost you storage. A Drive or OneDrive link works, but the file stays in your account until you remember to delete it. Google's space is shared across Drive, Photos, and Gmail, so one long video can crowd out your photos and your email.

Sharing settings trip up the recipient. If the file isn't set to "anyone with the link", the person you emailed gets an access request instead of the file.

Until SendTheStuff launches

A cloud storage link is the closest thing to what SendTheStuff will do.

1. Pick the storage that goes with your inbox: Google Drive for Gmail, OneDrive for Outlook.com, or any service you already use.
2. Upload the file. For a batch of files, make a folder and upload that, so one link covers everything.
3. Set its sharing to "anyone with the link", then copy the link.
4. Paste the link into your email, in any app. It's one line of text, so it fits under every limit above.

In Gmail you can skip the first three steps: attach the file anyway, and Gmail swaps in a Google Drive link by itself. Either way, delete the file from your storage once the recipient has it.

When it doesn't work

• The email sent but bounced back later. The recipient's provider has its own limit. Send a link instead of the file.
• You need to send dozens of files. Put them in one shared folder and send the folder's link, so the recipient gets one link rather than a stack of emails.
• The recipient lands on an access request. The file is shared only with named people. Switch it to "anyone with the link" and send the link again.
• Your storage is full. Google's storage is shared across Drive, Photos, and Gmail, so a full Photos library can stop a Drive upload. Free up space, or use a different service for this one file.
• The file is over 2 GB and you use Outlook.com. That's the most a OneDrive link in Outlook.com can carry. Use Google Drive or another service for this file instead.