YouSendIt: Send Files Too Large For Email

Think of this as your online post-office when your packages are too large for email. YouSendIt has a free service that will allow you to send files up to 100 MB in size. You upload them to the YouSendIt server, and YouSendIt will send your recipient an email with a link where they can go download your mail. It couldn’t be simpler.

It’s come in real handy lately for sending large batches of photographs. I’m trying to talk some other cousins into signing up so they can send me their collections.

It’s the usual sign-up procedure with email address and password, and then you’ve got your own account to sign into whenever you want. The free version is limited to a monthly download of 1GB.

Note where it says “Select a file” – this does mean a file. In other words, if you have several files, you’ll have to fetch them one at a time. Remember, this is the free version. This is where zip folders can come in handy.

I assume everyone knows what zip folders are and how to use them, because not would be like trying to use a computer without a mouse. Not surprisingly, cousin Sam didn’t have a clue, but to my amazement she put her nose to the grindstone and mastered the procedure in a couple of days. It should have only taken 10 minutes, so if Sam can do it, anyone can do it, trust me.

If you don’t have a zip utility on your computer it’s way past time to get one. WinZip will cost you eventually so you might as well go with 7-zip which is OpenSource and free.

After installation it will show up forevermore in your context menu (that’s the list you see when you right-click on a file). You can now either open a zip folder, or create one.

If you want to make one, put all your stuff-to-send into a folder. The folder is optional. You could just as well use single files and add them one by one. A folder is just an easier way to gather all your files together in one place. Give it a name, right click on it and next to 7-zip, choose “Add to Archive.” This box will come up.

There’s only three things to do and two of them are optional. First, choose “zip” next to Archive format because it’s the most common type. Second, put in a password if you want one, but remember what it is because your recipient will need it, and click OK. A progress bar will appear and when it’s finished, you will have a zip folder to upload to YouSendIt.

YouSendIt will take care of sending an email to your intended recipient to let them know where to pick up the mail. It’s a breeze.

If you ever want to open a zip folder, just right-click on it, and choose any of the first 3 options. I like “Extract Here” as it does exactly that, without further questions.

Zip folders have many uses. I like to store old correspondence and diaries in them. Depending on the file-type a zip folder can compress files down to about two-thirds of their original size.

So, if you didn’t already know about zip folders, now you do. YouSendIt

Tagged as: sharing-files, YouSendIt