You’ve probably had those moments of frustration because an attachment was too large to send via email. Today Google announced that by using Google Drive, Gmail users can attach and send files as large as 10GB. Yes, 10GB.
Before, Gmail users were only able to send 25MB attachments, making it difficult to send large Powerpoint documents to colleagues and sending us over to services like Dropbox or Box. Now all you have to do is upload and host your documents and files onto Google Drive, and click on a new “Insert files using Google Drive” button that you’ll find on the bottom of your email compose page right next to the paperclip attachment icon.
Note that this feature will only be available in the new compose page, which is a feature that you have to opt into. Otherwise you’re going to be stuck with the 25MBs.
An additional feature that Google is adding into the mix is based off of its “forgotten attachment detector,” which will identify whether the recipients already have access to those files that are being sent. You’ve probably seen the “forgotten attachment detector” in action already when you’ve tried to hit “Send” despite having forgotten to attach a file. Luckily Google had your back and reminded you of the missing attachment. The update to the detector, according to Google Product Manager Phil Sharp, will prompt users with the option to change the file’s sharing settings. This includes Drive links pasted into emails.
Before this, it was possible to attach Google Drive files in the body of emails, but this would have had to been done through Google Drive and not Gmail. When you open up a file in Drive, there’s an option to attach the document through “File” and “Email as attachment.” The update really is about the convenience of a one-click button in Gmail.
Google’s strategy is one that we’ve seen already from Microsoft, which in the past has based SkyDrive features into Hotmail, and now Outlook. Since many companies and individuals are on Gmail already and the update will more tightly integrate Gmail and Drive, this move could spur sales of extra storage space. Right now Google offers just 5GB of free storage space on Drive, which is accessible through Gmail and it’s going to be far more convenient to clock a single button in the compose page to attach large files.
The feature will be rolling out “over the next few days.”
