Monday's E-mail Mewl: Unannounced Attachments

When sending attachments, the Sender is all too often concerned only about what they want to accomplish. In this case, sending their attachments to whomever they want to have them.

The problem here is that by doing so, one risks shutting down the other side's e-mail box with their large unannounced attachments. Most photo files right out of the camera are megs in size. Excel or Access spreadsheets and even PDF files can fill a 5-10M e-mail inbox to capacity in one fell swoop.

What happens next? All subsequent e-mails bounce back as undeliverable due to over quota. There could have been important e-mails that the recipient was expecting that now are bounced back and not received. All because a Sender did not take the time to think about how their actions could effect others.

The solution?

1. All photo files need not be larger than 600 pixels in width. Learn how to resize or resample photos BEFORE sending.
2. Access or Excel files only are openable by those who have that software. You should always confirm even if the other side has those programs before sending a file they may not be able to open anyway!
3. For business related attachments, only send during business hours when the other side is there to keep their inbox clear and have the courtesy to ask first when would be the best time to send them.

This Sunday, one of my clients sent over 20M of files to be integrated into their site. On a Sunday! Luckily, I logged on to check an eBaY auction I was interested in or I would have experienced a shutdown. This client has been asked ad nauseam to please only send attachments during business hours and to give me a heads up when doing so.

I guess, as so many do, he was only interested in accomplishing his task rather than making the extra effort to honor my numerous requests by not sending such large files outside of business hours. How his actions could have effected me was a mute point -- he wanted to send his files and did so ignoring my previous requests.

Do yourself and those you e-mail a favor. Think before you attach! You'll look tech savvy and your contacts will without a doubt appreciate your extra effort and courtesy.

Don't Attach That!