Transferring files is the "gotcha" that nobody ever mentions when you start using e-mail. Sooner or later, you and your clients are going to need to transfer files between you.
It starts out with no problem-a PDF here, a draft set of financials there. One day, you try to e-mail a general ledger, and get a surprise wake-up call, a delivery failure notice a day or two later.
Then you start noticing that it's taking longer and longer to actually send a file. Just about everybody who starts to use e-mail as a document delivery medium gets a mail failure message at the end of a five or ten minute blinking message that your e-mail program is "Sending Mail." Perhaps a more truthful message to blink would be "Trying to send Mail."
The problem is that even with broadband Internet, e-mail was not really designed to transfer enormous files. Most e-mail systems place limits on sending, receiving and storing large files. Large Word files that include images often exceed 10MB. That's as much space as many corporate e-mail applications provide in total for a user's mailbox. HotMail, Gmail, and AOL mail all place limits on the size of the file that you can send (though sometimes these limits are pretty high.) There are, however, alternative ways to get large files from one place to another safely, securely, and usually fairly rapidly.
If you have many large files that need to be distributed, an FTP site may be the answer. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) was developed along with HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) specifically for file transfer, and can be configured to handle pretty much any size file, even very large ones.
FTP Server software
To use FTP, you need two pieces of software. The first, an FTP Server, is what is installed on the system that you will use to store the files, either for download to your clients, or to receive large file uploads from them. Some inexpensive FTP servers that you might want to look at include BulletProof Software's BPFTP Server for Windows and Serv-U from RhinoSoft.com. Secure FTP from GlobalScape is another popular FTP server.
FTP Client software
The second piece of software, an FTP Client, is used when uploading or downloading files to and from the FTP Server. All of the above companies also offer FTP Clients as does iniCom Networks which developed the popular FlashFXP FTP client.
Intermediary service
Another way to handle the transfer of huge files is to use an intermediary service. This is a vendor which operates somewhat like an FTP server. For example, YouSendIt provides free accounts with a 100MB per file and 1GB per month limit. When you upload the file, you specify the e-mail of the person who is to receive it, and they are sent an e-mail from YouSendIt with instructions on how the recipient can download the file. For heavier-duty use, the company offers a variety of paid accounts with higher file limits and more features. LeapFILE offers similar services, starting at about $15 a month.
Regardless of which approach you take, setting up your own FTP server or engaging a service, you'll find that being able to transfer large files almost effortlessly is both a load off of your mind, and off of your e-mail account.
Rick Telberg as Editor At Large for the AICPA Insider family of e-newsletters, is the most widely-followed commentator in the finance and accounting profession. He has helped launch and develop several industry-leading businesses, including the magazines Accounting Today, Accounting Technology and Practical Accountant magazines, and the websites WebCPA, Pro2Net, and CPA2Biz. He blogs at www.cpatrendlines.com.
Any views or comments expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of Rick Telberg and Bay Street Group LLC and not necessarily those of any other organization. No person quoted or cited has any known connection to or interest in Hewlett Packard, and their appearance here should not be construed as an endorsement.
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