Sending E-mail Attachments Safely
Contributed by Jennifer Goldman
The ability to send e-mail attachments is undoubtedly an invaluable tool. On a business level, it saves time and money and even creates new home business opportunities. On a personal level it allows people with shared interests to keep in touch through the exchange of digital photos, humorous clippings, movies, music and more. But what many don’t realize is that by sending e-mail attachments they can cause serious problems for the recipient—including damaging e-mail viruses or simply an overload of data that forces some of the recipient’s software programs to crash. Whether you’re sending some songs in the spirit of fun, or submitting a completed project to a client, the last thing you want to do is cause that person grief, or undermine your professional reputation by revealing your lack of understanding regarding how to use e-mail properly.
In order to avoid inadvertently creating such problems for the recipient, all senders should follow these rules of etiquette when it comes to e-mail attachments:
Be Aware of File Size
Keep it in mind that sending huge attachments can waste the recipient’s time by forcing him or her to wait around for an impossibly slow download. Not only can large files prove an inconvenience to the recipient, but files over 50 or 100 kilobytes can fill up the remainder of the storage space available in the recipient’s account, thereby blocking the account from receiving other e-mails. The file might also be too large for the recipient to store on his or her hard drive without crashing other software programs, or even his or her operating system. Graphic and photo files are notorious for taking up loads of space. Many contain thousands of pixels. In order to get around this problem using a program like Adobe® Photoshop® is a great tip. Photoshop will allow you to scale down the size of graphic files to 600 pixels or less before sending them as attachments. For large non-graphic attachments, consider compressing the file or files with a program like WinZip® or bzip2 if you’re using a Macintosh® computer.
Chose the Right Format/File Type
When you send an e-mail attachment in a particular format, the person who receives the e-mail needs to have the proper software installed on his or her computer in order to download and read the file. The recipient’s computer may not even be able to recognize the file if, for example, you send a text document that you composed using a different word processing program that your recipient uses. This may mean that your recipient is forced to search the Web for a free download that will enable them to save and decode the file. But it would be much kinder of you to resave and resend your file in another format. Communicate with your recipient to find out what applicable software programs they have installed on their computer. If this is simply not an option, note that most people have the software to receive plain text files ending in .txt, graphic files ending in .gif, spreadsheets ending in .xls, photo files ending in .jpg, Word documents ending in .doc, and Microsoft® Publisher documents with file names ending with .pub.
Use Anti-Virus Software
By sending friends or business associates e-mail attachments, you’re subjecting those people to possibly contracting a computer virus or worm. If your recipient opens an affected file he or she may even damage or unintentionally delete large amounts of data stored on his or her hard drive. Of course, this is one of the worst-case scenarios, but even less damaging viruses can be a rather large nuisance to the recipient. To reduce the risk of spreading viruses through e-mail attachments, install and run an anti-virus program on your computer.
Keep Timing in Mind
Before sending a large attachment, take the recipient’s schedule into consideration. For example, you shouldn’t send any sizeable attachments to an office that is closed for the weekend. Since the recipient isn’t likely to check his or her e-mail during off hours, your e-mail may sit in the person’s Inbox hogging up space as other incoming mail continues to build up, causing the person’s account to eventually be blocked from receiving important mail.
Give Your Recipient a Heads-Up
One way to avoid problems with the timing, size, and/or format of e-mail attachments is to give the recipient a heads up before sending the file. During this time you can ask the recipient whether or not he or she is equipped to receive a file of that size and whether or not he or she has the software to read it. You may also ask him or her when it would be most convenient for him or her to receive it. You may even find out that the recipient prefers you don’t send the file. He or she may not find it worth the trouble, or the person may suggest a more preferable method (other than via e-mail) of accessing the data or image contained in the file.
Avoid Attachments Whenever Possible
The best way to spare your recipient some of the nuisances that may come with receiving an attachment, is to avoid sending attachments whenever possible. Alternative methods of sending information include pasting it into the body of an e-mail or referring our recipient to a FTP server or web site where he or she can access and download the relevant data.
Adobe and Photoshop are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Incorporated registered in the U.S. and other countries. WinZip is a registered trademark of WinZip International LLC registered in the U.S. and other countries. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation registered in the U.S. and other countries.
About the Author:
Jennifer Goldman is a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader living in Denver, Colorado.
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