Send a large file by e-mail with Podmailing
This page explains step by step how to send a podmail: a potentially large file or folder delivered by the Podmailing service.
It is as easy as sending a classic e-mail.
By the way, have you installed the Podmailing software yet? If not, you should follow our installation tutorial first.
If the video in QuickTime format does not show up, click here to view the video in flash format.
Creating a new podmail
Just click on the "New" button at the top left side of the main window.
Two pieces of information to fill in just once
If this is your first time, a window appears, asking you information in order to identify you. Actually, when you send a podmail, an e-mail is sent to your recipients on your behalf - we need to include your name and your e-mail address in this e-mail.
That way your recipients know that this e-mail originates from you and they can reply to you:
- "Your name:"
enter your full name, or your usual nickname - "Your e-mail:"
enter your e-mail address - this address will be used for replies from your recipients
(we do not communicate our users' e-mail addresses to anyone)
For a proper use of the service, it is important to enter real information in these fields. Moreover, it is the only way for the recipients to recognize you and to trust the content that you are sending to them.
This identification info needs to be entered only once and it can be modified at any time in the "Options" window by clicking on the "Change user" button.
Enter the e-mail addresses of the recipients
Now, as in a usual e-mail, you need to type in the e-mail addresses of your recipients separated by commas ",".
Choose a large file or folder to send by Podmailing: DV or HD quality video, high resolution photos, documents too large for usual e-mail...
Click the "Select" button to choose an attachment.
You can choose either a file or a folder, through your standard computer window. If you choose to send another file or folder, you can click the same button again which is now named "Replace".
You can select a file or folder of any size, without any limit thanks to Podmailing!
You can also drag-and-drop a file or a folder directly into the composition window.
Enter a subject and write a personal message
The "subject" field has been automatically filled in with the name of the file or folder attached and its size, but you can change it as you like.
Finally, we recommend you to compose a personal message which describes the content of the podmail, so that your recipients feel like downloading it:
Well done! Now you just need to click the button "Send my podmail"!
Podmailing now handles the packaging of the large file, the generation of a preview if it is an image or a video and it sends an e-mail to notify the recipients.
Transfer of the large file by Podmailing
Last step - your podmail is added to the main window under the "Sent podmails" tab and it starts transferring:
Select your podmail in the window and you will see the transfer progressing.
The transfer of the large file starts immediately and copies data to our relay servers. Storage is temporary and secure.
The recipients can start downloading your large file before you have totally sent it. You will transfer data both to our relays and directly to the recipients.
All this is transparent and what matters is that your large file reaches its destination. When the progress bar reaches 100%, the state is set to "Finished", that's it! Now you can be sure that the recipients will receive the large file.
Resuming after a large file or folder transfer interruption with Podmailing
One more detail: if your file is really large, say several hundreds Mega-bytes, it might take some time to send completely - sometimes even several hours.
If you wish, you can shut down your computer or disconnect from the Internet before the transfer is complete, no problem. As soon as the Internet connection is up again, the transfer picks up again where it left off!
Resuming the transfer generally works automatically after a few seconds. If it does not, check your Internet connection. And in some cases, you can stimulate the transfer by clicking the button "Suspend transfer" and then "Resume transfer". In the worst cases you can also try to quit Podmailing and launch it again.
If you are sending them a podmail for the first time
The recipients might be surprised if it is the first time that you send them such a large file or folder with Podmailing. In order for them to trust the source of the message, it is important for you to use an e-mail address that they know and to compose a personal message that will reassure them and incite them to install the Podmailing software.
Besides, the anti-spam filters of the recipients might block the notification e-mail sent by our servers, and that displays "Podmailing <delivery@podmailing.com>" as a sender. In order to anticipate the problem, it is recommended to send them an e-mail directly from your usual software to warn them about the arrival of a podmail. Tell them also to check in their spam box in case a podmail is stuck there. It should only be necessary to do it the first time.
More info here.
Forwarding of podmails and sending the same file several times
You have probably noticed the button "Forward": it has exactly the same purpose as in your usual e-mail software. It composes a new podmail with the same attached file, the same content displayed as a quotation, and you can specify new recipients.
Luckily, forwarding the podmail does not imply a new data transfer. Only the details of your initial transfer will be sent to the new recipients, and it can go on indefinitely from recipient to recipient, as in a usual e-mail chain.
Thus Podmailing supports virality as usual e-mails but for unlimited-sized files!
Besides, as the underlying technology of Podmailing uses Peer-To-Peer (BitTorrent), the more people forward the same file, the faster the transfer will be!
Finally, if you or anyone else creates a new podmail with exactly the same content as a file that has already been sent, then the similarity will be detected by our service and it will not be necessary to upload the file again to our relay server. Concretely, after a few seconds required for data comparison, the podmail sending progress bar will suddenly jump up to 100%.
You will feel as if you had instantaneously sent several hundreds of mega-bytes!
