This past week I had a client who was attempting to send me a batch of photos to be updated on her website. Much to her disgust, after a number of failed attempts with her email program and the software that came with her digital camera she gave up and let me know that she was at her wits end and didn’t know how she was going to get them to me. Allow me to clarify, she had successfully transferred the photos from the camera to her computer and sorted them, but simply didn’t have any luck when it came to sending them out.

Lucky client, she’s also a friend and I was planning a visit anyhow, so I told her we’d get her all fixed up while I was there and that she could quit stressing over it.

Upon arriving and seeing what she had for me it became immediately clear what the problem was. She had a BIG, seriously B-I-G batch of full resolution photos (150MB worth) she wanted to send me, and no way to size them down if she wanted to.

Typically, I don’t send over 10MB in email. Why? Because even if I have an email provider that lets me send huge files, the recipients may not. On my machine, in my office, I’d probably downsize the image and then send it normally, but in Michelle’s office the easiest, most reliable way of sending these files from her to me was through You Send It.

Their free, or Lite Account is good for almost all large file transfer needs you might encounter in the regular scope of business.

• 100MB/file maximum
• File will be stored for 7 days from the time of upload
• Can be downloaded 100 times, so you can send it to multiple recipients
• 1GB of download bandwidth per month _ this represents the total GB of files that can be downloaded by your recipients. If you have two clients download a 100MB file you have used 200MB of your bandwidth. FYI, there are 1024MB in 1GB

If your file is under 100MB in size, you can send it for free. Basically you upload the file to their server, and they notify the person you are sending it to with an email that the file is waiting for pickup. The file is held for 7 days with the free service.

Using You Send It is an easy, no software needed solution to files that are too big for emailing. Next time you are just at a loss as to how you’re going to send that file give it a try – even better, don’t wait till you’re at a loss. Go get a free account. Oh, and no…they’re not paying me for this. But they should!

One other thing – they will offer a software option to send files…it’s your pick. I try not to clutter my system up with a lot of excess stuff so I didn’t bother with it, and have had great results with sending and receiving by doing the upload right in the browser.

HINT: To send large batches of things, like photos or pdf’s, put your files them in one folder (or more if needed) and then zip that entire folder into a single file to be uploaded.

To zip a folder right click, and select Send to > Compressed (Zipped) Folder

Because of the internet, and automation in general, doing business these days may be more accessible to you than ever, but that doesn’t mean it comes free of many technical challenges & headaches. If what you’ve read in my blog leaves you saying you need help, contact me to find out how we at Catch This! can be of service.