What takes up SO much space in my inbox?
- Ginormous powerpoint files
- Videos
- PDF documents
- Photos
Trick of the Trade:
As an email etiquette, I send LINKS to large files. These files are housed elsewhere. This minimizes jamming up people's inboxes. It also allows the recipient to easily send the link to others.
Several options:
Google Sites
- A free Google Sites account allows you to upload a file up to 10 MB in size. Choose "Copy Link Address" and paste the URL link into your email. This might look like:
Box.net
- For larger files, you can use various third-party companies, such as www.box.net. It allows you to create folders and personalize which files/folders you want to share. File size limit is 20 MB (for free account).
Dropbox
- For much larger size files (>20 MB), I use www.Dropbox.com. With a free account, you get 2 GB of total storage space. The nice thing about the cloud-based Dropbox is that your files are automatically sync'd between your hard drive Dropbox folder, your online Dropbox account, and your mobile computer device app (iPhone, eg). Plus, you can share any files/folders with others.
- I minimize using Dropbox, especially for the one-time sharing of files, because I use Dropbox as my primary repository of files. I'm getting close to the 2 GB storage limit.
As an aside, if you decide to sign up for a free Dropbox account, could you use this referral link?
- https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTUyNDc2MTE5.
- For every referral, I get 250 MB of additional space.
Do you have any tricks or tips on emailing large files?
I have a great tip for you! Have you tried Binfer? Binfer is a great option to send large files directly from computer to computer, without uploading to a server. You can send hundreds of files of any size with a simple drag and drop. Binfer will manage the transfers with auto resumes, encryption, notifications etc. Check it out: http://www.binfer.com. Its so simple that you dont have to bother with links, uploads and downloads.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam: I had never heard of Binfer. I'm still a little unsure about how it works but I do love the fact that the data is encrypted. Seemingly the only downside appears that both sender and receiver need to have Binfer open and running on their computers at the time of file-sending? This allows files to be transferred directly from computer to computer. Thanks for this awesome tip!
ReplyDeleteHi! Really like your IT tips, they're very straight to the point and useable.
ReplyDeleteI'm an ER physician in Scandinavia and I am all "head over heels" about using IT and tech in my ER. So I decided to hop onto the blogging train and write about my discoveries...
http://pricelesselectricalactivity.blogspot.com
Greetings!
Hey David: Great site and site name! Welcome to the EM community within the blogging world.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, thanks for the helpful post - I too am passionate about academia (in the UK). 2 quick points:
ReplyDelete1)Yesterday I read a post from former London entrepreneur turned LA-based VC Mark Suster: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/08/10/how-to-ask-for-help-favors-and-intros/ In it, Mark says that prefers attachments to links in email.
2) Have you tried using Syncables to sync all of your media, files and emails between 3 computers? I now use Syncables to sync all of the computers on my network automatically. It is quite simple and it works so nicely with both PC and Mac platforms. It's easy to share and collaborate on documents as well.
Just my longwinded 2 cents!
Guy: Thanks for the link advocating for attachments. I think the author was referring to when you are asking a favor/introduction of someone. Keep the email short in length. You want to make the process of viewing files as easy as possible. This means eliminating the step of using a 3rd party file server. Seems totally reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI am more talking about when sharing files amongst your colleagues, especially those with small .edu accounts.
I took a look at Syncables, but it seems to cost $29-49. No free demo version. Since I'm not fancy enough to have multiple computers (just a laptop and iphone), and so probably don't need this quite yet. Good to know though. Thanks for tips!
My 2 pence.
Really, Dropbox does all you need and with its whopping 2 gigabytes you'll have to work hard to fill your quota!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to share files without asking the other party to install Dropbox, you can use the folder called Public. Put a file there and Dropbox will give you a link (URL) to it and voila, you can use it in your email, Twitter, Facebook... it's all I need!
Hey David: Yes Dropbox indeed is awesome. sadly I used all my 2 GB as my backup respository of photos.
ReplyDeleteI just have to continue this thread since you're hitting a subject I'm very obsessed with! I'll keep it short...
ReplyDelete1) Don't use Dropbox for photo/video storage. You want to use it as your worktool (eg sharing files), your photo collection increases by 100s of megabytes per year but you've only got 2gb in Dropbox. And if you store your home videos as well... you know where I'm going.
BUT you could buy extra storage on Dropbox, it's not that expensive actually and then it's the best solution.
2) There are cheaper online backup services and I regularly dwell into these, comparing prices and services. I last did this about 2 years ago but felt they were still in their infancy. Even tried out one (and paid for it) but it went bankrupt and some users lost their data. I will definitely look into this in the near future as online storage is getting cheaper every year. Watch www.lifehacker.com or sibling sites for reviews about online backup, they write quality articles.
3) Check if your friends have a computer running 24/7 at home and ask if you can have online access to use as backup. FTP access is easy to setup and works with encryption. Your photo collection hardly cannot be bigger than 5-10 gigabytes, your friend most likely will have hard disks 100 times bigger than that and so shouldn't have any problem sharing a few gigabytes.
You want your personal photos to be 100% safe - don't go with anything less than online backup since everything else will likely fail (DVDs, even kept in a freezer, will eventually fault). Besides you want your backup to be as automatic as possible, online is the way to go!
Hope that helps you.
Hey David: Your words of wisdom on this topic are much appreciated. I will indeed look for an alternative site for my photos/videos as you suggest. Keep the tips coming!
ReplyDelete