At Property Typing, it’s our mission to make your life easier. We know that the easiest way for you to take notes for us to shape into the reports, surveys and documents you need is to record your thoughts. This gives the typist all the clarity they could need, leaves you will a clear, referenceable record, and makes it easy to get us the information you need. Yet audio files can be large- so what’s the best way to send large files over the internet? Don’t worry, you won’t be running around trying a million inconvenient ways! It can all be handled with the help of the internet- and no fuss on your side.
Why would I need to send large files, anyway?
We mentioned digital audio recordings above, but this probably won’t be the only type of large file you will need to send to your remote typist. When it comes to data, and how it’s saved to your PC or other digital devices, there’s one constant… the more detail the file has, the larger it is. That’s why the average short text takes up very little space- your emails and standard documents are little more than a few text characters on a simple white background, so there isn’t too much data to record.
When it comes to larger documents, however, or documents with a lot of personalisation or pictures, you’ll notice that number start to tick up steadily. Pictures, in particular, hold a lot of data… and that data equates to a larger size on your drive. The ‘fancier’ the document, and the more special editing and information it contains, the larger it will be. This could be anything from your letterheads and practice-specific stationery to your logos and photographs or other media which need to accompany a report.
Audio (and video, for that matter) can likewise produce large files sizes- again because the recording media is capturing a lot of data. Even ‘blank noise’ needs to be recorded away in a chunk of the file. Dictation is still an immensely convenient way to share your thoughts, however- it just produces larger files then text only.
Why can’t I just email you?
We’d love you to do this… but your email host probably won’t let you and email isn’t the best way to send large files on the internet. Firstly, the larger a file is, the more carefully it needs to be transferred. Even one small data ‘chunk’ corrupting or going missing can render the whole thing unusable. This is what makes quasi-legal services like ‘torrenting’ so hit-and-miss… they actually transfer files not as one cohesive whole, but as little parcels. One missing parcel equates to a whole damaged download.
Going back to emails, however, let’s take a look at the process. You already have the item on your PC, of course, but that’s only the beginning of the email process. The file as a whole- whether it’s just a quick text message or a file with attachments- is uploaded (on your internet connection) to your email host’s servers. Then it’s collected and sent on to the email servers of your recipient, where it waits for delivery. When your recipient opens their mail, an action is prompted to download to their PC, and the email arrives. Every email account- yours and your recipients- is limited to a certain size (your ‘mailbox size’). If theirs is too small to receive your file, your mail isn’t downloaded but instead ‘bounced back’ with an error. This mailbox size is cumulative- so it represents the total size all of their mail can occupy on the server, not just a single mail.
Email hosts handle a ton of data daily- all of which needs that space on their servers. If they were to allow large files, they’d soon be paying for an awful lot of extra space to store them. This, and the risk of errors and ‘bounce back’ from lack of space, are the primary reasons most hosts curtail the size of files you can send through email services. So what’s a person to do if they have larger files to send? Fortunately, there are other ways to send large files on the internet.
Sending large files on the internet: some options
You have a few options open to you to send large files on the internet:
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File sharing sites
This need to send large files over the internet has spawned an entire industry. You’ll probably be familiar with ‘file sharing sites’. These act in a similar way to the process we described above… you upload the file to their server, a link is sent to the recipient, and they then download the file. Many of these are free, and you could consider reliable ones like:
- MediaFire
- WeTransfer
- DropSend
These have many advantages, and are safe for most files, but do not have the types of security in place that some paid services do. Your file is also wiped from the server after a fixed time so it won’t be accessible indefinitely.
2) Cloud services
You may already be using ‘cloud backup’. That’s just a fancy name for off-site server space, and you can use a similar process: upload, manually send a link to the recipient, and you are done. Some aren’t free, but you do ‘own’ that space to use as you will- your file will not be deleted until you delete it. While there’s always a slight security concern ‘in the cloud’, some paid business services (like Dropbox) offer added security features. Consider using:
- Dropbox
- Google Drive
- OneDrive from Microsoft
3) FTTP sharing options
Often used by web developers to upload files, FTTP transfer programs are a solid option, and much more private, to directly transfer the file. It does need some in-depth IT knowledge, however, and is a fiddly, lengthy process. Well known programs that facilitate FTTP transfer are:
- FileZilla
- CyberDuck
- CoreFTTP
4) Just use Property Typing’s portal
Did you know we had our very own, specialised and fully secure client portal for you to use? This works in a way similar to Dropbox and Drive, but is private and secured so only you and your remote typist will be able to access it. It’s offered free to all our clients, and is by far the best way to send large files over the internet to your typist, so why not give it a spin today?
Sending large files over the internet can sound like a hassle, but not if you have access to our special client portal! Why not give Property Typing a call today, and get set up and ready to connect with your typist at a moment’s notice?
