IntermediateLesson 4 of 49 min
Large attachments and Drive links
Above the size limit, Gmail stops attaching and starts sharing. Here is exactly what happens.
Gmail attaches files up to 25 MB in total. On Enterprise Plus an admin can raise that to 50 MB. Go over the limit and Gmail does something different. It uploads the file to your Google Drive and puts a link in the email instead.
What happens step by step
- Step 1. You add a file that is over the limit.
- Step 2. Gmail uploads it to your My Drive and inserts a Drive link in the message.
- Step 3. When you click Send, Gmail checks whether the recipients can open the file.
- Step 4. If they cannot, Gmail asks what access to give them. Viewer, Commenter or Editor.
- Step 5. The recipient clicks the link and opens the file in Drive.
Try it
Attachment size simulator
Drag the slider to change the file size and watch what Gmail does with it.
Your plan
Recipient's mail system
It attaches normally
18 MB is under the 25 MB limit. In transit it is about 24.7 MB, within the recipient's 50 MB limit.
Things that surprise people
- The file lives in your Drive. If you delete it, the link in the email stops working.
- Recipients see the current version. Edits you make later show up for them.
- Your company's sharing rules still apply. If external sharing is off, an outside recipient will not get in.
- Email encoding makes a file about a third bigger in transit. A 24 MB file can still bounce at a mail server with a 25 MB limit.
Finished this lesson?
Facts checked November 12, 2026