Sending emails with several attachments has become a standard over the years. The reason was the fact that this is the only preferred way to transmit documents like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Pdf’s, Images or other types along with mails. But sending Emails with attachments leads to many issues . Some of these are listed below:
- Large File Size: This will lead to Network choke by which the overall Internal pipe will get blocked leading to reduction in speed. This gets compounded since the sender usually sends the Email to multiple people in the cc. And within no time, 10 MB attachments gets multiplied into a 500 MB data size due to multiple emails and attachments.
- Multiple versions of the same file: If some of the users edit the attachment and resend, this leads to multiple versions of the document.
Data Leakage: If a confidential document is sent as attachment , then its possible that this email may find its way into wrong hands.
However, with the advance of “Cloud” storage like OneDrive & SharePoint, we now have a choice. We can now Share files or Copy links within SharePoint & OneDrive instead of attaching files. This will resolve all the stated problems.
Let see how we can Share Links using SharePoint & OneDrive,
1. At the top of the Message select Attachment option, then Click on Browse Cloud Location.
2. Now choose the file or folder you want to Share & Select Next. (Double click folder to open)
3. Select Share as a OneDrive link
4. Choose if people can edit the file or only view it. Select dropdown option of the file, Choose Manage Access.
So, when you share documents using OneDrive, you get following advantages:
- Only one version of document is available. This drastically reduces network traffic.
- Since there is only one document, there is no confusion about which version is latest.
- The permissions set by author remain. So even if Email falls in wrong hands, it does not matter.
