Send large files through Yahoo Mail

What SendTheStuff will do for your Yahoo email

SendTheStuff will turn your file into a link, and that link will be all your Yahoo message carries. The email will stay a few lines of text, so the 25 MB cap won't come into it.

• Size: SendTheStuff will take up to 5 GB per transfer, free. That's room for a long phone video, a wedding album or a folder of scans behind one link.
• Many files, one link: SendTheStuff will fit up to 1,000 files in a transfer, so a whole batch will go in a single Yahoo message.
• Full quality: SendTheStuff will pass the original file along untouched. Nothing will be shrunk to squeeze under Yahoo's cap.
• Yahoo on both ends: if your recipients read their mail at Yahoo too, their incoming cap is also 25 MB. A SendTheStuff link will clear their limit as well as yours.
• Link life: each SendTheStuff link will work for 14 days, then the files will be deleted. Nothing will sit in your own cloud storage, before or after.
• In the Yahoo Mail app: SendTheStuff will work in your phone's browser. You'll copy the link, tap Compose in the app and paste it in.
• Sent for you: SendTheStuff will also be able to email the link to up to 10 addresses, with replies coming back to you.

What Yahoo's limit actually counts

Yahoo's rule is about the whole message, not each file: the sum of every attachment in one email must stay at or under 25 MB. Three files that each look small can still fail together.

The same rule works in both directions. It applies to email you send from Yahoo, and to email sent to your Yahoo address. If a friend on another service emails you something big, their message can bounce even though their own provider would have let it through.

Why the usual workarounds fall short

Past Yahoo's cap, most people reach for one of three fixes. Each one works in some cases, and each has a catch.

• Splitting it across several Yahoo emails. Yahoo counts each message on its own, so a handful of photos can go out as two or three emails, each under 25 MB. That stops working with one large file. A single video can't be cut into email-sized pieces without special software, and your recipient would have to stitch them back together.
• Shrinking the file to fit. A video squeezed under 25 MB loses visible detail, and a long one may still not fit. Your recipient never sees the version you recorded.
• A cloud storage link. It gets past Yahoo, but the file uses your own storage until you remember to delete it. On Google Drive, that storage is shared across Drive, Photos, and Gmail, so a big video eats into your Gmail space too.
• Sharing settings on that link. If the file is shared only with named people, your recipient gets asked to sign in or request access. Then your Yahoo recipient writes back that the link won't open.

Yahoo's limit next to the alternatives

Until SendTheStuff launches

Meanwhile, the cloud storage you already have is the practical route. Here's how to get its link into a Yahoo email.

On a computer:

1. Upload the file to a cloud storage service you already use, such as Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive.
2. Set its sharing so anyone with the link can open it. If it's shared only with named people, your recipient gets asked to sign in or request access.
3. Copy the share link.
4. In Yahoo Mail, click Compose and write your message as usual. Instead of the Attach Files icon and Attach files from computer, paste the link into the message body.
5. Send it. The email is tiny, so it goes through at once.

In the Yahoo Mail app on your phone:

In the app, attachments go through the Attachment Picker icon at the bottom of the compose screen. Photos and videos is where a long phone video usually trips the limit. Skip it and do this instead:

1. Open your cloud storage app and add the video from your camera roll.
2. Leave the app on screen until the upload completes. Phones often pause uploads in apps that aren't in front.
3. Use the app's share option to copy a link anyone can open.
4. Switch to the Yahoo Mail app, tap Compose, and paste the link into the message.

Sending a video through Yahoo Mail

Videos are the usual reason people hit this limit. A couple of minutes of phone video can be past 25 MB on its own. Compressing it to fit throws away the quality that made it worth sending.

With a link, the video isn't in the email at all. A SendTheStuff link will carry the original file, so your recipient will play it at full resolution. SendTheStuff will also hold several clips from the same day in one transfer, behind a single link. Until it launches, a shared cloud folder does the same job.

What the person you email sees

They get a normal email from your Yahoo address with the link in it. A SendTheStuff link will open a page with each file's name and size, the expiry date and a Download button. They won't need a Yahoo account, or any other account, to get the files.

A cloud storage link opens the file on that service's own page instead. "Anyone with the link" opens straight away; a file shared with named people asks them to sign in first. Check that setting before you send.

When it doesn't work

• Yahoo won't attach the file. Check the total size of everything attached, not just the newest file. If it's over 25 MB, remove the attachments and paste a link.
• Other attachment errors. Yahoo's help lists special characters in the file name, or an unsupported web browser as common causes. Renaming the file or switching browsers can fix those, and a link avoids them entirely.
• Someone can't email a big file to your Yahoo address. The limit applies to incoming mail too. Ask them to share it from their cloud storage and email you the link.
• Your recipient hits a sign-in or "request access" screen. The file is shared with named people only. Change its sharing to anyone with the link, then resend.