Sending large files: a link instead of an upload

A photo for a t-shirt fits into an email without trouble. A Master's thesis with high-resolution figures, a poster in print quality or an 80-page brochure PDF will burst any mailbox — and most upload forms with it. So the most reliable route is a different one: put the file in your cloud storage and send us the link.

It takes less than two minutes, works from any device and has a pleasant side effect: the link stays valid if we have a question or you push a corrected version at short notice. No second upload, no truncated email.

When is a link the better choice?

As a rule of thumb: anything above 3 MB is better sent as a link. Our contact form takes smaller files directly — for bigger ones you simply paste the link into your message.

Typical sizes from our everyday work:

• Text-only paper, few images: usually under 3 MB – upload directly
• Thesis with figures and charts: often 5–30 MB – link
• Poster or large format at print resolution: 50 MB and up in no time – link
• A batch of photos for mugs or shirts: 10–100 MB depending on the camera – link

Which service to use

All the common providers work equally well for us — just take the one you already use:

• Google Drive – if you have a Google account, it's already there
• Dropbox – the classic; the recipient needs no account
• WeTransfer – no sign-up at all, ideal for a one-off
• Microsoft OneDrive – usually set up already if you use Office 365
• Your university's cloud – many Thuringian universities run their own Nextcloud, which works perfectly fine too

We don't mind which one you pick. All that matters is that we can open the file without an account of our own and without signing in.

How to share the link properly

1. Upload the file and wait until the transfer has finished.
2. Open the share dialog and set access to "anyone with the link" (Google Drive) or "create link" (Dropbox, OneDrive).
3. Check the permission: view access is enough — we don't need to edit.
4. Copy the link and paste it into the message in our contact form.
5. Add the password if you protected the link. Without it the job sits still until we've reached you — and that costs exactly the time you don't have before a deadline.

The four most common pitfalls

• Sharing not enabled. The most frequent one: the link shows us "request access". Test it in a private browser window and you'll see what we see.
• Link expires. WeTransfer links are time-limited. Send the link when the job should actually start — or tell us if it's urgent.
• Folder instead of file. A shared folder is fine as long as it's clear which file goes to print. Otherwise share the one final file.
• Wrong format. For printing we much prefer a PDF with embedded fonts — our print-ready files guide shows how to export one.

What happens with your link

We download the file, check it before printing and get in touch if something doesn't work. Once you've picked up your job, the link no longer needs to be shared — you can revoke access or delete the file at any time. That applies to your thesis just as much as to a poster or a mug.

Rather not use the cloud?

No problem: bring your USB stick, a memory card or a CD to Jakobstraße — we print from all common storage media. And if you're not sure which route is fastest for your job, give us a quick call: +49 3643 9009863.

Send a file or a link