Dealing with Email Attachments

Sending attachments with email can be relatively easy, but it is not necessarily the best way to send very large files. Sending a very large attachment can send you, and the receiver, over your mailbox limits. If you need to send a large attachment please review the options for transmitting large attachments below.

Whether an individual is successful in sending files via email attachments depends on many factors including limits on the sender and receiver's messages and attachments, the size limits of both the sender and receiver's mailboxes, and the extension of the attachment being sent. KU blocks some attachments that are known to carry viruses. Blocked attachment list.

KU attachment limits

1. If you send email to a KU alias (johndoe@ku.edu), the attachment limit is 20MB.
2. If you send email directly to a KU Exchange account (johndoe@mail.ku.edu) the attachment limit is 40MB.
3. If you send email directly to any other KU central server that handles email such as Lark or Raven (johndoe@raven.cc.ku.edu), the attachment limit is 20MB.

It is also possible that the receiver may be close to his/her mailbox limits. KU Exchange accounts for faculty and staff have a 100MB mailbox limit. A warning message is sent to the user when the mailbox is 80MB. They receive additional warning messages as they move through various limits. The obvious problem with this situation is that if one message increases the receiver's mailbox size from 70MB to 105 MB, he/she would not receive any of the warning messages before their mailbox reached its maximum capacity.

It is also possible that due to the Exchange limits described above a user would be unable to send a large attachment if their mailbox was near the limit. More information is available about KU email storage limitations.

Options for transmitting large attachments

1. On Exchange, Public Folders can be used to share documents. Items in Public Folders are not included in your mailbox size. Both sender and receiver must be on the KU Exchange system for this option to work. More information about Public Folders.
2. If using other systems such as Lark or Raven, FTP programs such as WS_FTP or Fetch can be used to transfer files to/from these systems. You cannot FTP files to Exchange.

If you really need to send a large files as an email attachment, here are some tips:

1. Send the message directly to the full address if using a POP or IMAP client (like Outlook Express, Netscape or Eudora) to send from either Exchange or Lark to someone on the same system (e.g. imajhwk@mail.ku.edu or imajhwk@lark.cc.ku.edu). If you are using Outlook to send a message to another Exchange user it will automatically use the full address.
   
2. Clean mailboxes periodically to ensure that the receiving or sending of large attachments will not put you over your limits. Tips for keeping Exchange mailboxes under the limit.
3. If you receive many attachments as a function of your job, you might want to consider requesting a department account. Information about Exchange departmental accounts.

Users who have questions about transferring files can also get help from the IT Customer Service Center, 864-8080.