em>I have been unsuccessful in attaching 24 photos to e-mail. Is there a limit to the number of attachments per e-mail?
Email Attachments and ISPs
It’s not so much the number of photos as it is the file size of the collection as a whole. Whether you send twenty four 1 MB photos or one 24 MB photo, the end result is the same in the eyes of the ISP - 24 MB of data that needs to go through their server.
Many ISP limit the file size per email as large file sizes require more system resources than small ones. If you are using a free email service, you will likely see a lower limit than if you are using a paid service. Likewise, dialup email accounts tend to have lower limits than their broadband counterparts. After all, trying to send 24 megabytes of data over a telephone line is a completely different experience than sending that same amount over a cable or DSL connection.
Not only do you have your own ISP limits to be concerned with, you also have the ISP of your recipient to consider. You may have a generous limit but if your recipient’s ISP has a lower limit, then your images won’t land in your recipient’s inbox.
Time Limits
In addition to the file size limits, your email application may be set up with too short of a timeout time. For example, if your email application has a timeout limit of one minute before it disconnects and you are trying to send a group of photos that is expected to take five minutes, your application will timeout before the message is successfully sent. The same is true of your recipient. If your recipient’s timeout setting is too short, the application will timeout before the message is fully downloaded.
To change the timeout settings, go to Tools > Accounts and click on your mail account. Click on Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Under Server Timeouts, adjust the slider bar to a longer setting.
Alternatives to Sending Bulk Photos
If you don’t want to go through the hassles of tweaking your email application, you have other options. You can send a series of email messages, each with a smaller batch of photos or you could use a photo sharing service. With photo sharing services, which are generally free, you upload your photos to a website where you can add captions, create albums, and more. From there, you send a link to your recipient. Your recipient can then click the link, view your photos, download photos, or even order prints.
Celeste Stewart | September 16th, 2009
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