ten mov.es

Sending attachments via Gmail is pretty straightforward in Windows, but it’s not great if

• you want to send your attachment direct from the program (Word etc)
• you want to send more than one attachment per email
• you’re used to dragging and dropping attachments

Here’s how to make it easier.

Sending files direct from a Windows application

Affixa is a small program that sits between you and Gmail, turning Gmail into the default email client for mailto: links (links on webpages that launch whatever is your Windows email program).

Affixa is relatively painless to install.

Now , for example, you can send a file straight from Microsoft Word via Gmail.

You can do the same thing right clicking on a file in Windows Explorer (or whatever it’s called in Windows Seven) and then selecting Send to/Mail recipient:

Affixa will alert you when the email is ready:

Sending multiple files via drag and drop

If you’re a drag and drop person, you can add files to Gmail using Affixa’s basket, a small app that sits in the system tray into which you can drag files, or groups of files.

When you’re done collecting the files, hit the email button at the bottom and Affixa adds them to an email:

That email is then put in your Gmail draft folder. (Be patient; this can take a while. Probably too long.)

Another option, if the files are all in the same folder, is to use a Firefox extension called dragdropupload which lets you drag multiple files straight into Gmail (and Facebook and Flickr).

Once the extension is installed, create a new Gmail email message and then drag the selected files into the light blue area around the Subject field.

You’ll know if you’re doing it right when the mouse turns to a thumbnail of the files with the number of files above it in blue:

I find this works more quickly than Affixa. 

The basic version of Affixa is free; a more fully featured version costs £2 a year. The Firefox extension is free, but its author Sankazim welcomes donations via PayPal.