Posts Tagged ‘email’

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

File Transfer Services Demystified

by Kristen Sunde

It’s time to send your files to your vendor. You zip up your files into a neat .zip package and it is 40GB! Uh oh! Your email client won’t allow you to send a 40gb file! What to do? Fortunately online file transfer services are on the rise and there are a number of options available.

YouSendIt, Dropbox, and SendSpace each offer a solution to get your larger file to where it needs to be. While these companies also specialize in a number of other solutions, below is a comparison of the features and benefits specific to their free-of-charge, large file transfer service.

YouSendIt Lite
YouSendIt is the most popular file transfer service available. Their free, registration-required membership allots 100MB of transfer space. Only one file may be transferred at a time — a hurdle quickly surmounted with a .zip package. There are a number of plug-ins that allow files to be sent directly from most commonly used applications such as Outlook, Acrobat, and Photoshop. To send a file you may login to you YouSendIt online or from the desktop application, complete a standard email form, and attach your large file. The recipient receives an email with a link to a YouSendIt download page. Alternatively you may simply copy and paste this link into an email and send via your regular email client — without using the YouSendIt email form. The file is hosted for 7 days then taken down. Advanced security and a return receipt are available on a pay-per-use basis. A 1 GB per month download limit is free with this level of subscription.

SendSpace Lite
SendSpace works much like YouSendIt, but registration is not required. The limit on file sending is 300MB per file, with up to 5 files allowed per delivery instance. By registering you are able to track the number of downloads per file. Files expire if they are not downloaded for 30 days. Like YouSendIt, you may either use their email form to send the link to your recipient or simply send the link to the download page. Watch out though, the SendSpace download page is noisy with animated ads, and often times the emails sent from SendSpace are interpreted as spam.

Dropbox
This company’s primary business is file syncing, but with their free membership comes a snazzy way of delivering files quickly. Dropbox works as a virtual online storage space accessible via a shortcut installed across any number of your personal or work computers. Upon registering and dowloading the application, the Dropbox folder is installed directly on the desktop. If are online, anything transferred into this folder is automatically synced with your global Dropbox account. Subfolders can be shared from the Dropbox folder by sending an invite to new or registered users. To send files to someone without a Dropbox account, simply place the file in the “Public” folder of your Dropbox directory. With a right-click on the file, you may copy the public, downloadable link to this file and send to your intended recipient. The file size limitation is 2GB total for your entire Dropbox. Controlling the file expiration is done by removing the file from the Dropbox directory.

Comparison Chart

Each company provides a free service aimed at getting your large files where they need to be. In addition to the lite membership levels there are several subscriptions tiers for each, allowing increasingly larger file space, security options, and other enhanced features.

If file expiration control and larger file size is your primary concern, the Dropbox option may be for you. If unlimited downloads and trackablility are paramount, SendSpace may be the way to go. And if ease of transfer from your commonly used applications such as Outlook and Acrobat is what you desire, be sure to check out at YouSendIt.

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Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Email: The New Ball and Chain

by Alex Griffin

Email has taken over as the de-facto means of communication in a business environment.  The amount of email one has to sift through on a daily basis is staggering.  A recent survey found that most people receive 50 to 250 emails daily.  Reading, responding and filing each of those messages is a laborious task. If you are spending the majority of the day responding to email, it’s nearly impossible to effectively do your job.
Below are several email tips I have found to help manage my time more efficiently.

Unlock the ball and chain
Stop checking your Inbox every time a message pops up.  It’s a distraction and  prevents you from doing your job effectively.  Check your email first thing in the morning and respond to time sensitive messages, then close out of your email program. Don’t just minimize or turn the volume down so you don’t hear the “ding”. Turn it off for ONE HOUR and yes this means you also can’t check your Blackberry or iPhone.  Follow this same pattern throughout the day, you’ll be amazed how much work can be accomplished when you are not being distracted every 2 minutes.

Don’t be super email man or woman
Responding to every email within 30 seconds of receiving it may sound like a great idea, but it comes at a price.  Yes, your client or co-worker will appreciate the quick response, but it may also set the expectation that you will  respond to every email within 30 seconds.  If it’s urgent, respond. However if the request is not time sensitive, mark it as “to do” and come back to it later.” What if I client needs to reach me and I am not on Email?”  Trust me, if it’s an urgent matter, they will find a way to reach you. Another option is to set an “Out of Office” message letting people know when you will respond to their email.

Spam-a-lot
Spam accounts for upwards of 30 percent of all email.  Use your spam filter to identify and sort out spam from your Inbox.  Take the time to mark mail as spam so your system can appropriately block future messages.  Tired of getting the same ten emails from the same company?  Don’t just delete the email, update your spam filter and take the time to unsubscribe from those unwanted email lists.

CC’ing everyone – including your grandmother
Avoid the temptation to copy every person in your office on every email.  Unless there is an action item or a specific need to copy people, don’t. They will thank you for it later.

Filters are not just for coffee
Use the tools your email program already has to help you manage your Inbox.  Set up filters to reply or file messages appropriately.

Keep it short and sweet
Email messages should be short and to the point.  Remember everyone else’s Inbox probably has just as many unread e-mails.  Use proper grammar, be concise and have a well thought out message with a clearly defined action. Remember people cannot often hear the “voice” behind the content of an email. A phone call or in-person meeting is often the best method of communication, especially if you don’t have good news to share.

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Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Gmail – a Better Solution than an Email Client?

by Tony Kay

So you have joined the throngs of businesses moving over to IMAP Google Apps or Gmail. Which now begs the question, do you use the Gmail web interface or do you use an email client? I recently experimented with Gmail to determine if it would solve some interface consistency problems I was having with Apple mail (a client solution).

Key highlights of Gmail

  • •  Consistency – Whatever computer I’m on, the status of my email is the same as when I left it. If I have read an email on any computer, it shows up as read the next time I access my email or mobile device. This feature has saved me a tremendous amount of time. Apple mail lacks this level of consistency.
  • •  Grouping of emails with the same subject line – I frequently will go back and forth with a colleague on one subject. In Apple mail (and most other mail clients), each email is a separate line item. In Gmail, all my emails get grouped in a single line item. So when I want to go back in time, I just need to find the subject and the whole email chain is in one place.
  • •  Multiple labels instead of single folders – Apple mail only allows me to put an email in a single folder. Gmail uses labels instead of folders. I can assign multiple labels to an email and then search any combination of labels to only see those emails that I’m really interested in.
  • •  My inbox stays cleaner – Using filters and labels, I can designate select emails to be automatically filed without passing through my inbox. Google’s powerful search capabilities allow me to access multiple labels simultaneously, eliminating my fear of filing emails where I can’t find them. In Apple mail, if I did not remember which folder an email was in, I would not be able to access it.

Multiple Gmail labels and 10 grouped emails in one line.

Like any email solution, Google mail has room for improvement. I would like to see a more user-friendly interface and a more visually differentiated navigation system. In addition, some changes to minimize scrolling would greatly improve the user experience.

No email system can be all things to all people. When it all comes down to it, you need to decide which features are “must haves”. I have found Gmail’s consistency feature to be my “must have,” so I am going to stick with it. If it doesn’t work for you, there are lots of sites that compare email clients. You can start at Wikipedia and go from there.

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