Title: File sizes and limitations
Course: Canvas Practice Course > Section: Module 2 - I want to share this file - how do I do that? Attach a file, File size, and Downloading a File

Attachments to an Email Do Have a Size Limit

If anyone has tried to send a big file as an attachment to an email, you probably already know that you will get an error message.  The sizes of email attachments are limited when it comes to your Internet Service Provider.  Google’s email or gmail allows 25 MB file sizes as well as Yahoo and AOL but Outlook and Hotmail only allow 10 MB.  The file size will be prohibited for either the sender or the receiver so if you have a gmail account, you may be able to send a 25 MB file but your receiver with a Hotmail account will not be able to receive it.  If the file is denied because of size, you will get an error message such as “attachment size exceeds the allowable limit” or something similar.

There are alternatives to sending an email with a large attachment.  One would be to store a large file in the cloud.  Cloud storing such as Google docs or Dropbox allow you to store your files for easy access and you can send a link to the file in your email instead.  Another option would be to zip the file and send a smaller version to your receiver.

If you are taking photos and plan to send them to someone in an email, you might plan ahead by saving them in a smaller file format.  You can reduce the file size by saving the photos with less pixels or saving them in a smaller size such as 640 X 480 rather than 800 X 600.