4 problems and 5 solutions for using Gmail as online storage

One common complaint I hear (and have) about Gmail and the entire suite of Google Applications is the lack of online storage.

The common solution thus far has been to e-mail yourself a copy of whatever file you want to store or transfer from one computer to another using Gmail’s generous 20 MB attachment limit. This is fine unless you’re constantly testing the 6.4 gig storage capacity (I actually have a friend who was using 90%+ of his storage because he’d e-mail himself to transfer/store files) or you don’t want to deal with the clutter that comes along with it.

While there are some work-arounds, from what I understand they violate your terms of service and I’m not about to do anything to lose my precious Gmail account(s) and, subsequently, my e-mail.

That being said, here are four problems with using Gmail for file transfers/online storage:

1. Letting your account inch slowly toward capacity. For most of us, this isn’t a problem but there are certainly those out there who are pushing the limits.

2. All those attachments can become quite unwieldy. It can become difficult to find the specific files you’re looking for, especially if you’re backing up multiple versions.

3. Taking up space in two e-mail accounts. One in the sending account and one in the receiving account. Plus, you’ll have to delete the file from the sending account which requires a separate login which, frankly, is a hassle.

4. Manually adding multiple files to attach to an e-mail is tedious. Attach. Browse. Select. Open. Repeat.

How to avoid all this hassle and clutter? Here are five tips for managing your Gmail account as a repository for your online storage and transfer needs:

Tip # 1: For those of you wanting to simply transfer a file from one computer to another (for example, if you needed to crank on a work project at home) attach the file to an e-mail as you normally would, but instead of sending it to yourself, save it as a draft. This keeps a single copy and makes it easy to locate, download, and discard the file when you’re done with it.

Tip #2: If/when you decide to e-mail yourself a copy of a file for storage/backup purposes, write a description of the file and other keywords in the body of the e-mail. This will help you accurately search for the file later on, should it become necessary. If you’re uploading something with copy (words) that could easily be copied and pasted into the e-mail, do it.

Tip #3: Received a file with an attachment you want to keep long-term? Create and apply a “Storage” label to those messages for easy reference later on and archive them to get them out of your inbox. When you need to retrieve the attachment, simply click on the “Storage” label on the left side of the screen and you’ll have a nice list of all the attachments you wanted to hang onto.

Tip #4: If you’re running low on space and want to delete messages with attachments, or you want to find a particular attachment and don’t want to wade through your thousands of messages (or you’re like me and just don’t like clutter), you can search for e-mail with attachments by typing the following into the search bar: “has:attachment” (no quotes). This will bring up every e-mail you’ve ever received that has an attachment (assuming you’re an Archiver and not a deleter).

Want to narrow the search further? Try “in:inbox has:attachment” (no quotes). This will only bring up the mail in your Inbox that has attachments. This search technique works with all your labels.

And I’d recommend sending the file to yourself using the same account. By that, I mean if I need to send a file to my LivSimpl account I’d send it from my LivSimpl account. That way I instantly know I received it and can nuke the Sent version without having to log into a separate account.

Tip #5: There’s a handy Firefox Add-On that allows you to drag-and-drop files into the file path in the browser. It can be found here.

I hope you found this beneficial! Oh, and I’ve put a new poll in the upper-right portion of the sidebar. I figured if I’m going to put Gmail tips on here, I’d better make sure people are using it. Please take a moment to vote.

As always, your comments, feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks for reading!

LivSimpl

P.S. You can also try Google Docs for uploading (and editing) Word, Excel and Powerpoint files.

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Portion of the Gmail logo found here.