Gmail Expands Attachment Limit to 50MB, but Only for Incoming Mail

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Friday, March 03, 2017

Over the years, huge advances have been made in cloud storage and file sharing services that have reduced the world's dependence on email attachments. Still, sending and receiving attachments are an unavoidable part of the daily email routine. Google, despite its effort to encourage users to use the Google Drive, understands this and has announced that starting March 1, Gmail accounts will be able to receive emails of up to 50 MB.

Google announced in its G Suite Updates official blog the good news. From the previous maximum of 25 MB, Google Gmail accounts can now directly receive emails from other services of up to 50 MB in size. The announcement was made on March 1, and the new feature is expected to gradually come to 100% of Gmail users within one to three days from the date of their post.

The maximum size limit for sending mails, however, will remain the same. Gmail accounts, both the free and subscription versions, will still have a size limit of 25 MB for their outgoing email messages. Like before, Google encourages users to use the Google Drive when sending files larger than the size limit.

The reason for limiting the size to 25 MB could be that the tech giant is generally encouraging people to move on from using email to transfer files. The email system is not really built to be a file exchange system.

Digital Trends notes that, although the feature to send files using email attachments is still a valid and convenient way to transmit them, there are better alternatives out there. Encrypted file locker services, for example, allows much larger files to be sent and protects the contents of the documents through encryption as well. Most file locker sites also offer free virus and malware scanning, and this could reduce the chance of you or your email correspondent getting hit with a virus-ridden file.