It’s 2023. And yet many of us are still running into 1990s-era email problems. And there’s one incredibly frustrating issue that Microsoft hasn’t helped us all that much across Outlook or Microsoft 365 — yet.
We’re talking about that obnoxious error you run into some of the time when you try to send an email with an attachment.
It’s the dreaded “file too large to send” message.
A Problem That’s Been Around a While
It’s a little hard to believe how long this has been an unsolved issue.
Sure, email providers have gradually raised the attachment file size limit. But it’s still far too low to account for every use case.
Somehow we’re living in an age of streaming everything and cloud dominance — even Microsoft is pushing us all to the cloud with Microsoft 365 and OneDrive.
But our email systems still can’t even handle a measly PDF if there are too many pictures in it.
Frankly, it’s a ridiculous problem. And thankfully, Microsoft agrees: they’re finally going to fix it.
Not by passive-aggressively telling us why we should be using cloud storage and file sharing instead — this time they’re going to deal with the problem in Outlook itself.
Microsoft’s Solution: Outlook and OneDrive Integration
A recent post on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap (the document that tells us what Microsoft has planned for the coming months and years) outlines how Microsoft is going to solve this problem.
The company has already invested big in both an email client (Outlook) and a cloud storage platform (OneDrive), and it’s fair to wonder whether these platforms could work together better than they do.
That’s exactly what Microsoft is planning here: a more deeply embedded integration between Outlook and OneDrive.
Once the feature goes live, users who try to send an attachment above Outlook’s limit will be automatically prompted to upload the file to OneDrive directly within the email compose window. Once the file is uploaded, the sender can send the email just like normal, as if it were a regular ol’ email attachment. And the recipient can open the attachment normally as well.
This is a big step forward compared to the status quo. Depending on your version and settings, you may already receive a message about uploading your too-large file to OneDrive. But this ends up being a process with 10 to 15 steps, requiring you to:
- Open a browser tab
- Log into OneDrive
- Open a File Explorer window
- Find your file
- Drag it over to your browser tab
- Wait for it to upload
- Click on the newly uploaded file
- Retrieve the shareable OneDrive link
- Go back to your email
- Paste the link
- Hope the recipient knows what to do
Not only that, you have versioning and permissions issues to worry about — did you change permissions settings correctly so your recipient can see the file?
With this new process, all of that becomes unnecessary. Outlook does it all semi-automatically, so you can stay focused on moving business forward, not on overcoming email attachment obstacles.
Release Timeframe
Android users can already access this new capability. For everyone else, Microsoft estimates the service will be ready by the end of September 2023. That means we don’t have to wait long before email file size problems are a thing of the past!
Blue Ridge Technology Is Here for You
As a small business leader, you have plenty to worry about. IT doesn’t need to be yet another thing distracting you from moving business forward. That’s where Blue Ridge Tech comes in: our team of IT experts comes alongside your organization, taking care of whatever IT responsibilities you want us to handle.
We can help you migrate to the cloud, move operations into Microsoft 365, maintain ongoing IT operations, and much more. Whatever you need, we’re here for you. Reach out to our team now!