Methods to Email Large Files as Attachments in Outlook

Updated On - October 23, 2024 by Nasir Khan | Reading Time: 4 minutes

In this write-up, we’ll go through the ways to email large files as attachments in Outlook.

Do you ever need to send large files through Outlook but can’t because the maximum size of an attachment is too big?

You may have seen an error message that says, “Attachment size exceeds the allowed limit” or “The file you’re trying to attach is bigger than the server allows“. Depending on your Outlook version, try putting the file in a shared place and sending a link instead.

This is because Outlook has a limit on the size of files that can be attached.

What is the Outlook attachment size limit?

The default setting for email is 20 MB. You’ll probably get the message above if you try to send a larger file or a group of files that add up to more than 20 MB. If you know what to do, there are ways to get around the Outlook file size limit.

Having to use an alternative file transfer option to send large files to your contacts hampers productivity, especially in the workplace. In extreme cases, you may need to contact the IT department for assistance. (Believe me, your IT department would rather not deal with this.)

How to email large files as attachments in Outlook

If you want to solve this problem on your own, there are many things you can do:

1. Putting files on OneDrive and giving the link to other people
2. Making a zip file and compressing files before sending
3. Using the Outlook Automatic Resizing

Method 1. Use a Cloud service to send the file.

You can put a big file in the cloud and share it from there. Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive are all common cloud storage services.

It will suggest that you use OneDrive. It is where Microsoft stores files in the cloud. It is a part of Windows. If you have a Microsoft account, your free OneDrive account can hold up to 15 GB of data. OneDrive can be found in the Windows File Explorer (look for the cloud-shaped icon).

Step 1: Put your files on OneDrive

Click on the files you want to share to select them, then drag them into the OneDrive folder.

Step 2: Get the link to share

Once the files are in the folder you want to share, right-click on the folder name to bring up a menu. Choose More Ways to Share on OneDrive. The Shared Files dialogue box appears when the OneDrive window opens:

To share the files via Microsoft Outlook, copy the displayed link to the clipboard by clicking the Copy button.

Step 3: Add the link to a message in Outlook

Open Microsoft Outlook and make a new message. Copy and paste the link into your email message by pressing CTRL+V:

Click the Send button when you’re ready to send your email message. When the person gets your message, they can click on the link in the email to get to the big files you sent them. So you can use the above process to email large files as attachment in Outlook.

Method 2: Making a zip file and compressing files before sending

Even though creating a zip file automatically compresses your files, it isn’t useful for file types that are already compressed. For example, the .jpg image format, which is very common, is already pretty compressed. So, putting these kinds of files in a zip file won’t make them much smaller. Let’s get started.

Step 1. Create a Zip File

The first thing you need to do is zip your big files. Find the files you want to zip in Windows File Explorer. Use CTRL+Shift to choose several files at once.

Right-click on the files you want to send and choose to Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder from the menu that appears. The system automatically makes a compressed file with all the files you chose.

Step 2: Add the Zip file to your Outlook email

Once you’ve made your zip file, you can attach it to an Outlook email message by following the steps I showed you earlier for sending an attached file. Click the Send button when you’re ready.

Method 3: Use the Automatic Resizing tool in Outlook

Using the automatic resizing feature in Microsoft Outlook, you can reduce the size of an image file attachment. Click the File tab at the top left of your message window to use this feature. You’ll see the screen below:

Click the button to the left of “Resize large images when I send this message” to have Outlook automatically resize your image files.

The automatic resizing feature won’t work with some types of files. For example, say you wanted to send an email with a large spreadsheet or other large documents. The option to change the size didn’t work. Video files are another type of file that often go over Outlook’s limit for email attachments and can’t be resized with the resizing feature.

So using these methods, you can easily email large files as attachment in Outlook with your colleague or anyone else. Well, I’ll also suggest you a tool not to share an email attachment but to recover a corrupt PST file. If you’re a bit techy, you might know that PST file is prone to corruption, and “Precaution is always better than cure” that’s why I suggest you install Regain PST recovery tool. It is a multi-function tool.

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Why Regain Outlook PST Recovery is a must-have tool?

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• Exports Repaired PST Files to Office 365 Platform and Live Exchange Server
• Top of all, the tool works with all versions of Microsoft Outlook and Windows Operating System.

Conclusion

In this write-up, we’ve demonstrated several ways to email large files as attachments in Outlook. All of these works effectively, and with them, you can easily send any size of the file as an attachment. Also, many Outlook users use Regain Outlook PST recovery tool to manage their PST files.