If you need to email a large video, you have several options. If you and the recipient of the email both have a Gmail account, you can use the Google Drive service to share the file over the web. If you have an Outlook account, you can use OneDrive directly from Microsoft's email client website. If you and the email recipient have an Apple account, you can use iCloud Drive's Mail Drop service.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Using Google Drive and Gmail
Step 1. Log in to the Gmail website
If you are not logged in to your Gmail account, do so now by providing the email address linked to it and its password.
Step 2. Press the Write button
It's at the top left of the main Gmail page.
Step 3. Press the button to access Google Drive
It is characterized by a triangular icon located in the lower right part of the "New Message" window that has appeared.
Step 4. Select the Upload tab
It is located in the upper right corner of the "Insert File Using Google Drive" dialog box.
If the video you want to share via email is already on your Google Drive account, just select it from the "My files" tab of the "Insert files using Google Drive" window
Step 5. Press the Select files from your computer button
Step 6. Choose the video to upload to Google Drive
The procedure for identifying and selecting the video may vary according to the folder in which the relative file is stored (for example, the "Documents" and "Downloads" directories have different access paths).
Step 7. Press the Upload button
It is located in the lower left corner of the "Insert Files Using Google Drive" window.
The time it takes to upload may be very long, depending on the size of the file. When finished, the video will appear as an HTML link in the "New Message" window
Step 8. Complete the email creation
Fill in all missing essential information: the recipient's email address, the email subject and the email text.
Step 9. Press the Submit button
It is blue in color and is located in the lower left corner of the "New Message" window. The chosen video will be shared with the recipient of your e-mail in the form of a link, so the person who will receive it will simply have to click on it to proceed with the download of the content.
- If you have not previously authorized the recipient of the e-mail message to access the file on Google Drive, you must do so now by selecting the Share and send link located within the pop-up window that appeared.
- From the pop-up window that appears, you can also authorize the recipient of your message to edit the video or leave a comment by selecting "Can edit" from its drop-down menu (the default option is "Can only view").
Method 2 of 3: Use OneDrive and Outlook
Step 1. Log in to the Outlook website
If you are not logged in to your Outlook account, you can do so now by entering your email address and password.
Step 2. Access the Outlook main menu by selecting the icon characterized by a grid of dots consisting of three rows and three columns
It is located in the upper left corner of the Outlook window.
Step 3. Choose the OneDrive option
Step 4. Drag the video file you want to share into the OneDrive window
Alternatively, you can access the Upload drop-down menu at the top of the screen, choose the File option and select the video to upload.
- The upload of the chosen file should start immediately. This step may take a long time to complete, depending on the size of the file.
- Until the file upload is complete, you need to keep the OneDrive web page open.
Step 5. Once the file has successfully uploaded to OneDrive, you can close its browser tab
At this point, you are ready to compose and send the email.
Step 6. Press the + New button
It's located at the top of the page, just above the "Inbox" header.
Step 7. Press the Attach button
It's located next to a paperclip icon at the top of the new email compose pane.
Step 8. Choose the OneDrive option
It should be located in the upper left of the appeared window.
Step 9. Select the video file to share
Step 10. Press the Next button
Step 11. Choose the Attach as OneDrive File option
Unless the chosen file size is less than 20MB, the highlighted one will be the only option available.
Step 12. Complete the email creation
Fill in all missing essential information: the recipient's email address, the email subject and the email text.
Step 13. Press the Submit button
The chosen video will be shared as an HTML link. When the recipient reads the message, they can download the physical copy of the file by selecting the relative hyperlink.
Unlike in the case of Google Drive, using OneDrive the recipient or recipients of the message will automatically have the necessary permissions to access and download the file
Method 3 of 3: Using Mail Drop and iCloud Mail
Step 1. Log in to the iCloud Mail website
If you are not already logged in, do so now by typing in your Apple ID and password.
If iCloud Mail opens automatically, select the Mail option located in the upper left corner of the main page of your iCloud account
Step 2. Click the gear icon in the lower left corner of the web page that appears
Step 3. Choose Preferences from the menu that appeared
Step 4. Go to the Composition tab
It is located at the top of the "Preferences" window.
Step 5. Select the checkbox Use Mail Drop for sending heavy attachments
Mail Drop allows you to attach files with a maximum size of 5 GB to your emails in the form of HTML links.
If the indicated check button is already selected, do not deselect it
Step 6. Once you are done making changes, press the Save button
Step 7. Press the button to create a new email
It features a pen and notebook icon located at the top of the web page.
- Alternatively, you can use the hotkey combination Alt.
- If you are using a Mac, you need to press the Option key instead of the Alt key.
Step 8. Click the paperclip icon
It is located at the top of the page.
Step 9. Select the video file you want to share
At this point, you need to access the folder on your computer where the movie is stored. This step obviously varies based on the actual path to the file.
Step 10. Complete the email creation
Fill in all missing essential information: the recipient's email address, the email subject and the email text.
Step 11. Press the Submit button
The complete message will be sent to the recipient and will include the HTML link to download the video from Mail Drop.
The email recipient will need to download the video before they can view it on their device
Advice
- All major cloud service providers offer the option to purchase additional free space by paying a monthly subscription.
- Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox also make the mobile application available. If you have stored one or more large video files on your iOS or Android device, you can choose to move it to one of these clouding services (as long as you have enough free space) and then send the email with the link to download via the device app or from a computer.
- Temporarily store the video file of your interest directly to your desktop, before starting the online upload, so that it is easier to locate it during the selection process.
