How To Send Large Attachments By Mail(Gmail/Outlook)

Many a times I need to carry home a few documents from work and don't have a pen drive. Mailing the Files to my personal Id is an option but then if the file is too large even that doesn't work.

Most Free Email providers have limits on the maximum file size that can be mailed.

• MSExchange(Outlook) - 5 Mb(Varies with organization)
• Gmail - 25 Mb
• Yahoo- 25 Mb

I am assuming here that like most corporate organizations several file sharing sites are blocked.

So now I have a 60 Mb word document in my office computer and I need to edit this from home. One way of course is to avoid all this and Connect to my Office Computer by VPN from home. But lets just say that isn't happening for now.

If you have the permission to install software's or have 7zip installed in your Office Computer, Then you can use 7zip to split the file and mail it in multiple emails.
The same can be done using other archiving applications like Winrar but I would always prefer to use the open source and free 7zip.

In the worst case scenario lets assume we do not have any archiving application and do not have time/rights to install a new one.

There is still a way.

create a new mail and attach the file. the 60Mb original file and save it as draft. If you are using gmail/yahoo or any webmail then its quite straight forward. If you are using outlook then find out how the url for office web mail. Login to your office webmail from home and dowload the document from the drafts.

It's obviously only possible to share files with yourself with this method and not with other's. Never give your password to other's to share files with them by saving it to draft.

If you want to share file's with other's and do not have any other means except email , You might have to split the document into multiple documents and send.

If the restrictions are not in place then you can upload the documents to google drive, dropbox or any similar service. Or even better create a torrent and share the file.

If you have used any other technique To Send Large Attachments By Mail(Gmail/Outlook). Please let me know in the comments.

How to Create a Password Protected Zip File

Often we need to send Private files over the Internet and it is always better to password protect them for better privacy. 7zip is a Software for archiving files and is free and open source. Once you have installed 7zip , you can follow these simple steps to create an encrypted archive.

• Select all the files that you want to archive
• Right Click and Choose 7 zip
• Choose Add to Archive from the list of options
• Now Enter the password . Make sure it is a strong password
• Re-enter the password to confirm
• Click on OK.

When you open this archive the file names are visible without entering the password but the files can be extracted only after entering the password.

If you wish to prevent the file names from being visible without the password select the check box - Encrypt file names when creating the archive.

Here's a video showing the steps.

How To Split A Large File Into Small Files In Windows 7 Using 7zip

Many a times we need to Split large files into smaller files. This is especially useful when uploading to websites that have a limit on the file size.

If you just need to split the files send across to someone who can join them back then 7zip is a great utility.

If you are using Windows 7 Then you can follow these steps to install 7zip.

Its a simple procedure to split a file using 7zip. All we need to do is

• Right click on the file
• Choose 7zip->Add to Archive
• Here there is a field called as - split to volumes. Give the maximum size of the files to split into.
• for e.g if you have a 70 MB file and you give 20 there, it'll split the file into 4 files of  20,20,20,10 MB size.
• Now you can send these files separately by whatever means you like.
• The receiver of these files can simply select the files and say extract here and the file will be merged back.

Here is a video showing the same -

How To Zip Multiple Files Using 7zip in Windows 7

Many a times we need to send multiple files by email or any other means. It is useful to zip them into a single file and avoid the hassle of missing some files. By zipping them you are sure that none of the files are corrupted as unzipping will give an error.

If you just need to zip the files send across to someone then 7zip is a great utility.

If you are using Windows 7 Then you can follow these steps to install 7zip.

Its a simple procedure to zip using 7zip. All we need to do is

• Select all the files
• Right Click
• Choose 7zip -> Add to archive
• Click on OK
• The receiver can right click on the file and select Extract here

Here's a Video Tutorial to show the same -

How to Install 7zip in Windows 7

Windows comes with a default Archiving tool. But then for several reasons like

• Open source alternative
• split files by size 
• encryption

We need a different software. Currently I feel 7zip is the best out there. So how do we go about installing 7zip in Windows 7.

• First we need to visit http://www.7-zip.org/download.html to download the 7zip installer for Windows 7. Choose the msi installer.
• Run the Installer.
• Click on Next
• Accept the Terms and conditions and click on next
• Click on Next
• Click on Install
• Click on Yes
• Now 7zip is installed and ready for use.

You can also view a Youtube Video on How to Install 7zip in Windows 7

You can archive files, split files by size and encrypt archives.
Please comment below if you have used 7zip or any other FOSS for archiving.