How to send large files, free and easy

A common question is, "How can I send large files." Email has limitations. Installing software for file transfers has downsides. Thankfully, there are Internet services that get the job done, for free and painlessly!

The general concept is:

• Upload the file to a service.
• They send an Email, for you, with a link to the file.
• Your recipient Clicks the link and downloads the file.

Yes, large files can take a long time to upload and download, but you bypass all the potential Email issues, and generally you can use the PC while the file transfer is taking place - just at a slower pace. If you PC is too slow to do anything, you may need a tuneup.

Email providers, from Hotmail to Gmail, now allow bigger and bigger attachments to be sent. Coxmail allows attachments to be as large as 30 MB; Cox.net allows up to 20 MB attachments. Even if that's big enough for your file transfer needs, Emailing large attachments has serious downsides.

Files over 10 MB can send your Email client into seizures. Once a large file transfer is started, your Email function grinds to a stop until the file is uploaded or downloaded. Send that large an Email to somebody, and there is an even chance that they'll think their Email has locked up because it takes so long.

Another problem is mailbox quota. Every Email provider has some limit on the size of the mailbox and messages it will hold. Some are very large quotas, others are as small as 20 MB. Send a 30 MB message to a mailbox with a 20 MB quota and it's rejected. Worse yet is to send a 20 MB message and have that message eat up the last available space in the recipients Email box. Then their Email provider starts rejecting other Email messages because the box is over quota!

You recipients want your big files, but they don't want it to freeze up their Email cleint, or worse yet plug up their mailbox!

One of the first file transfer services was YouSendIt. It is still one of the best choices. It is the service I use most.

They offer a Lite Account, for free transfers. You can send a file as big as 2 GB, which is huge. If you are in a hurry, sign up here and send your file.

They also offer expanded services, including online file storage and drop boxes for file sharing.

For most personal users and small businesses, the Lite Account is more than adequate.

There is a video tutorial at the end of the article.

I've used PipeBytes and was happy with the process. Instead of storing the file on their servers and forwarding it to your recipient, they work through two open browsers.

It's fast and convenient but does require sender and recipient coordination, as the user has to also connect to PipeBytes. This is easy, but is a little technically more aggressive than asking somebody to click a link in an Email message.

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Appears similar to YouSendIt in business model and functionality.

They allow a 2 GB file transfer in the free model, and up to 5 transfers in a month.

Another file facilitator.

The free service allows transfer of a 300 MB file.

The good news here is that they offer some online file storage in their Lite or free plan.

That disfunctional office organization made famous by Scott Adams, is the image inspiration for DilbertFiles.

The best feature of DilbertFiles is that they show you cartoons while you are transferring files.

The worst feature is that there is no Lite or free version. Prices start at $9.95 per month.