Ever try to use Gmail to send a long video file to someone? How about a folder full of pictures? Either way you would have gotten the same message: Your email was not sent because you exceeded Gmail’s 25 megabyte limit.
Now Google has a way for you to send massive files over the internet. It’s called Google Drive. Drive is a file storing and sharing service similar to Dropbox. Technically Drive isn’t Gmail, but it is fully integrated into Gmail. Files can be sent using Drive instead of the standard attachment, or moved from an attachment into Drive effortlessly.
Here is how you can use Gmail to send any files you have, up to 10 GB worth of them, by using Google Drive.
1. You’ll need a Gmail account. If you already use Gmail, you already have access to Drive. You can access Drive directly, along with the other Google products, by going to the top of your Gmail screen, as shown here.
2. To add a file to a new email, go to the plus sign at the bottom of your New Message. The Drive icon will appear, along with some other options. Click on the Drive icon.
3. From Drive you can either drag files to this screen or click on the option to browse from the files on your computer.
4. Once your files are uploaded and you are ready to send your email, this dialog box will appear. To share with the person you are sending the email to, press the “Share & send” button.
Your email and the files should be on their way! If you have more than 10 GB to send, you can purchase as much as 30 TB of space on Drive—that’s 30,000 GB worth of storage space!
Google Drive is a good free storage solution. However, you should consider using a professional cloud storage service for backing up your important data, as there are more and more cases being reported of Gmail accounts getting hacked and people losing their vital data. It’s worth investing a bit of money in a professional backup service. We recommend Just Cloud – the leading backup service online!
