How To Create A Zip File In Google Drive

You can send a zip file in Gmail if you want to send a large file or folder to someone without using Google Drive.
Gmail has a hard 25 MB limit for sending attachments over email, and if you try to send more data than that, Google will automatically upload it to your Drive and share the files as Drive files instead.
You have to compress your files or folder beforehand on your computer and then attach them to your email.
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Gmail, Google's email platform, makes a lot of aspects of email simpler, including attachments.

Like most email services, Gmail has a hard limit on the size of a file you can send over email — any files you send cannot go over a combined file size of 25 MB. With most email services, if you try to send something larger than their maximum size, it simply won't let you send it.

With Gmail, however, Google simply takes them and uploads them to Google Drive, then sends them as shared Drive links.

As convenient as this is, there can be problems with it. Sometimes the sharing permissions on your Drive are not set in such a way that allows people to view them. Sometimes the person you're sending the files to doesn't know how to use Google Drive.

If you find that, for some reason, you'd rather not share your larger files over Google Drive, you can always do it the old-fashioned way, by sending them as a zip file.

Here's how to create and send a zip file in Gmail.

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How to send a zip file in Gmail

1. Open the app that stores files on your Mac or PC.

2. Find the files or folder you want to zip together to send and select them.

Select the files you want to zip together.

3. You can do this on a PC by right-clicking on the file or folder and select "Send to" and then "Compressed (zipped) folder" from the dropdown menu. Rename the file if you wish.

Right click, then select "Send to" and "Compressed (zipped) folder."

4. On a Mac, right-click on the folder or file and select "Compress…" from the dropdown menu.

5. Open Gmail and log into your account.

6. Type the email you want to attach your zip file to. At the bottom of the email, click the paperclip button to attach a file.

Click the paperclip button at the bottom of the email.

7. Locate the zip file you just made and select it, then click "Open" to attach the file.

8. Click "Send" to send the email.

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Melanie Weir

Freelance author

Melanie Weir is a freelance author for Insider, mainly focusing on the Tech Reference section, but occasionally contributing to Lifestyle and Entertainment topics as well. She is also a freelance writer for ScreenRant, and is the Lead Weekend News Editor at TheThings.com. In her spare time she writes plays for both stage and screen. She can be reached at melanie.weir1008@gmail.com, or through LinkedIn.