emailing files

[Mark]

The size limit on an e-mail could be anything, but it is generally safe to assume that less than 1 MB will make it thorugh the filters.

As an alternative for those with slow connections, consider setting up a cheap internet hosting account and putting the file there for download. If you are thinking of e-mailing the same large file to several people, this might also lessen your upload time.

[tbn.al]

Bloke....How's your cell service? I am forced by my business to have mobile internet access. My ATT mobile card gives me up to 2MB in metro Atlanta and 500 to 700 KB in the rural areas. If I can get 3 bars on the phone I can rock and roll. It ain't cheap but by golly it works. I do still run into size limit problems sending rehearsal MP3's out to my quintet members. If you get over 10MB everyone has problems because of ISP limits.

[Rick Denney]

Joe, here's what I do. I have Earthlink service, via dial-up, at the house. I set my email client software on my home computers to accept messages with attachments totaling less than a megabyte only. The messages with the larger attachments get left on the Earthlink mail server. My email software puts a message in lieu of the actual message that says "Message over 1MB received from _____" or something like that.

If it's something urgent, I can go to the web-hosted mail interface on Earthlink and read the text of the message to see what the attachment is about, and then, if I want, download it. I generally only do that if 1.) I'm expecting the message, or 2.) it's work-related and I need to deal with it.

If it's not important, you can just delete the message using the web-hosted mail interface, and you'll never have to download it again.

I don't know if Outlook has the capability to leave messages on the server with large attachments, but "The Bat" does, and that's what I use.

Nor do I know if your dial-up ISP supports web-hosted email in addition to POP and SMTP mail service. But I bet it does. If it doesn't, Earthlink is as cheap as most and you can just program in the phone number and ignore their software altogether.

Rick "noting that it is getting harder and harder to tolerate dial-up speeds, and internet-based services are caring less and less about serving their dial-up-constrained customers" Denney

[WoodSheddin]

When I see some absurdly-large email trying to come through Outlook Express, I...

- press: control-alt-del.
- stop process: msimn.exe
- go to: webmail
- read or delete: the message from webmail

I would use web based mail. I recently switched to Google Gmail after hosting the family email on my own webserver for many years. Should have done it a long time ago.

If you really want to use Outlook, then it sounds like you POP your mail. Instead look into using the IMAP setup. Most providers offer both. In fast, you can use Google mail through the web, POP, and IMAP all at the same time.

IMAP leaves the mail on the server until you bring it in specifically. POP brings it all in everytime.

[Rick Denney]

Rick,

This is about the closest thing to that Outlook Express will allow me to do:

I don't use Outlook Express. I don't need the headache.

I use "The Bat!", which is a Slovenian email client. It's much safer than Outlook and provides a wide range of features. It has the same feature you describe, but when it is invoked by a message that is too large, it will give you a message header that tells you so. Outlook might also--you might want to test it out.

With all due respect to Sean, whose sysadmin prowess deserves anyone's respect, I prefer traditional email using POP and SMTP rather than IMAP or web-based email, both of which require continuous connection to the net. I frequently batch download email in an airport or a Starbucks and then read and respond to it on the plane. Not everyone has that requirement, of course.

And Gmail-Shmemail. I use email for work, and my email archive is my record of what I've done. I can't trust Google to maintain such a critical record of work stuff. My email archive, which is fully searchable, backed up in a variety of ways, and entirely accessible to me whether or not I'm connected to the net, has 204,000 messages in it going back to 1996. I can fetch files sent to me on a project I did ten years ago, and I've needed that capability more than a few times.

Not Yahoo; Earthlink. You pay to use their service, but you get what you pay for.

Rick "who doesn't like web-hosted email" Denney

[Tubaryan12]

And Gmail-Shmemail. I use email for work, and my email archive is my record of what I've done. I can't trust Google to maintain such a critical record of work stuff......

Have the best of both worlds. Use Gmail and have a POP program pick it up and save it on your computer:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answ ... swer=13273

Rick, you are lucky. If you had my I.T. department where you work, you would trust Google, Yahoo, or anyone else more than them to handle your email. The computer system at my job does more to slow down the flow of work than middle management ever could.

[WoodSheddin]

With all due respect to Sean ... I prefer traditional email using POP and SMTP rather than IMAP or web-based email, both of which require continuous connection to the net.
...
And Gmail-Shmemail.
...
Rick "who doesn't like web-hosted email" Denney

I was the same way about web mail, but after using Gmail for several months now I am mostly a convert. It does POP, IMAP, and web based. It's spam filters also work reasonably well.

I did the switch mainly because attachments were a real pain in the rear for me using MH in a UNIX shell. Wife was using Pine and attachments were a near equal pain.

It still does not do everything I would hope for and I may try out the app you recommended.

I thought Joe might appreciate the attachment handling of web based because of his descriptions of hassles with large attachments and POP. Encoded binaries are an order of magnitude larger than when they are reconverted into binary format. Downloading them directly from a web based client like Gmail saves a good deal of downloading time. And they get virus scanned by Google beforehand.

Another plus with Gmail is that I was able to register my email address that everyone knows and now all inbound and outbound mail is through the chisham.com domain instead of gmail.com.

sean

[pg]

I recommend mailwasher (http://www.mailwasher.net/) for PC's. You can preview all your POP email (and/or delete) before you download to your machine using your favorite client. I use it primarily to keep SPAM out but it would work for the purposes of this discussion as well. Check it out - you'll be glad you did.

--paul;