Email is still how most businesses talk to customers and suppliers, so it is natural to use it for sending files too. But attachments cause problems that are easy to overlook until something goes wrong.
The hidden costs of attachments
- Size limits. Many mail systems limit the size of messages, and encoding makes attachments larger still. Big files bounce, sometimes without anyone noticing.
- Duplicate versions. Each reply and forward creates another copy. Before long nobody knows which is current.
- No off switch. Once a file has been sent, you cannot take it back, even if it went to the wrong address.
- Scattered storage. The only copy of an important document may live in one person's inbox.
What to do instead
Keep the file in one shared location and send a link. The recipient gets what they need, you keep one master copy, and the link can have an end date and be revoked if plans change.
When attachments are still fine
This is not an all-or-nothing rule. A small, non-sensitive PDF that you are happy to have stored in someone else's inbox forever is fine as an attachment. Use a link when the file is large, sensitive, likely to change or going to several people.
Making the change stick
- Start with your largest and most frequently sent files.
- Add a sentence to your email saying what the link is and when it ends, so that it does not look suspicious.
- Send any password by a different route from the link.
- Check your list of live links now and then, and revoke what is no longer needed.