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From your Mac

Send large files from your Mac.

Your Mac has several built-in ways to send a big file. The best one depends on who's getting it.

Quick picks

  • By email, up to 5 GB: Mail Drop in Apple Mail.
  • Anyone, on any device: a Google Drive link.
  • Someone in the room with an iPhone, iPad or Mac: AirDrop.
  • Someone you text with iMessage: Messages.

By email: Mail Drop

Apple Mail can send attachments up to 5 GB through iCloud. The person gets 30 days to download them, and they don’t count against your iCloud storage. Check it’s on in Mail > Settings > Accounts > Account Information > “Send large attachments with Mail Drop.” You need to be signed in to your Apple Account. Stuck? See Mail Drop not working on Mac.

To anyone: a Google Drive link

Go to drive.google.com, click New > File upload, then click Share. Under General access, choose “Anyone with the link” and copy the link. They can open it on Windows, Android or anything else. Work or school accounts may not allow this. Weighing it against a transfer service? See WeTransfer vs Google Drive.

In Gmail you can just attach the file. Personal accounts attach up to 25 MB, and over that Gmail adds it as a Drive link instead. See File too large for Gmail?

Nearby: AirDrop

In Finder, select the file, click Share, choose AirDrop and pick the person. Both devices need Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on and need to be within 30 feet (10 meters). It only works between Apple devices. See AirDrop vs iMessage, or AirDrop alternatives for Mac for other devices.

Someone you text: Messages

Open Messages, pick the conversation, drag the file into the message field and press Return. See Send a file by iMessage on your Mac.

Sending a folder or lots of files?

Mail Drop won’t send a folder as is. In Finder, Control-click the folder and choose Compress to make a .zip file, then attach that. Select several files first to zip them together. See Email a folder from your Mac.

Or make it smaller

Videos and scanned PDFs shrink well. See Compress a video on your Mac and Reduce a PDF’s size on your Mac. For a video, also see Send a large video from your Mac.

Let Sendoff pick the route

Sendoff is a Mac app that lives in the notch. It checks the size before you send. Drop a 48 MB video for someone you usually email, and if you also reach them by iMessage, it sends it that way instead. Drop the file, pick the person, press Send off. Comparing options? See the best file sharing apps for Mac.

Join the waitlist below, and tick the beta box if you want to test it first.