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Why is my attachment file size reported as too big?

The reason you may get an error saying that your file attachment is too large is because you probably sent a file that is near the 5 MB attachment limit. Because E-Mail programs can only send text, your file is converted from binary to an encoded text format prior to sending. The resulting encoded file is always larger than the original binary file. On the receiving end, it's then convered back into binary format for use.

To avoid this problem, you can do one of the following to send your file attachment:

  • Use a service such as The Internet File Exchange to send your file attachment. Since the file is stored on the server, there is no file size limit. The recipient will receive an E-Mail with a link to download your file.

  • Compress your file using zip (Windows) or tar (Linux). This will make your binary file smaller, and thus the encoded E-Mail will be smaller. Be sure to rename the extension of your file to something like .fil so that it gets through our spam filtering system. Instruct the recipient to rename the file back to the correct extension.

  • Create a directory such as files on your web server and upload the files there. Then create a link to that file and give it to the recipient in E-Mail. However, by using The Internet File Exchange instead, the file will go into their download space so you can delete it from your space at any time and they still will receive the file.



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