Send large files through Yahoo Mail

What Yahoo's limit actually counts

Yahoo's rule is about the whole message, not each file: the sum of every attachment in one email must stay at or under 25 MB. Three files that each look small can still fail together.

The same rule works in both directions. It applies to email you send from Yahoo, and to email sent to your Yahoo address. If a friend on another service emails you something big, their message can bounce even though their own provider would have let it through.

Send a big file from Yahoo Mail on a computer

1. Upload the file to a cloud storage service you already use, such as Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive.
2. Set its sharing so anyone with the link can open it. If it's shared only with named people, your recipient gets asked to sign in or request access.
3. Copy the share link.
4. In Yahoo Mail, click Compose and write your message as usual. Instead of the Attach Files icon and Attach files from computer, paste the link into the message body.
5. Send it. The email is tiny, so it goes through at once.

SendTheStuff's own upload tool is launching soon, built for exactly this: your files in, one link out, with nothing left sitting in your storage.

From the Yahoo Mail app on your phone

In the app, attachments go through the Attachment Picker icon at the bottom of the compose screen. Photos and videos is where a long phone video usually trips the limit. Here's the way around it:

1. Open your cloud storage app and add the video from your camera roll.
2. Leave the app on screen until the upload completes. Phones often pause uploads in apps that aren't in front.
3. Use the app's share option to copy a link anyone can open.
4. Switch to the Yahoo Mail app, tap Compose, and paste the link into the message.

Splitting it across several Yahoo emails

Because Yahoo counts each message on its own, a handful of photos can go out as two or three emails, each under 25 MB. Number the subjects ("1 of 3") so nobody misses one.

That stops working with one large file. A single video can't be cut into email-sized pieces without special software, and your recipient would have to stitch them back together. If the people you're writing to also use Yahoo, a link has a second advantage. It sidesteps their 25 MB incoming limit as well as your outgoing one.

Yahoo's limit next to the alternatives

Sending a video through Yahoo Mail

Videos are the usual reason people hit this limit. A couple of minutes of phone video can be past 25 MB on its own. Compressing it to fit throws away the quality that made it worth sending.

With a link, the video isn't in the email at all. Your recipient clicks, downloads the original file and plays it at full resolution. If you've got several clips from the same day, put them in one shared folder so a single link covers them all.

What the person you email sees

They get a normal email from your Yahoo address with the link in it. Clicking it opens the file on your storage service's own page, with a button to download it. They don't need a Yahoo account.

Whether they need an account with the storage service depends on how you shared it. "Anyone with the link" opens straight away; a file shared with named people asks them to sign in first. Check that setting before you send.

When it doesn't work

• Yahoo won't attach the file. Check the total size of everything attached, not just the newest file. If it's over 25 MB, remove the attachments and paste a link.
• Other attachment errors. Yahoo's help lists special characters in the file name, or an unsupported web browser as common causes. Renaming the file or switching browsers can fix those, and a link avoids them entirely.
• Someone can't email a big file to your Yahoo address. The limit applies to incoming mail too. Ask them to share it from their cloud storage and email you the link.
• Your recipient hits a sign-in or "request access" screen. The file is shared with named people only. Change its sharing to anyone with the link, then resend.