Attach files and recordings to an email letter
Add documents, photos, or a voice or video message recorded in your browser. What your plan allows, when files are uploaded and what happens at the limits.
6 minutes to read
An email letter can carry files: documents, photos, or a message you record with your microphone or camera. The files are not sent as email attachments. They stay on FuturePostman, and the recipient opens them on the page of the letter after unlocking it. What you can attach depends on your plan.
Attach a file
Pick or drop the files
In the composer, press Attach under the letter text. Or drop files on the area Drop files, photos or a recording here in the Attachments section of the delivery panel.
Check the list
Each file is listed with its name and size. The cross behind a file takes it out again. A file that breaks a limit of your plan is marked in red with the reason.
Choose how they may be opened
A line under the list says how the files are shared: whether recipients may view or download them, and how many downloads each recipient has. Change next to it opens the settings. See Control how recipients open your files.
Confirm the letter
The files are uploaded when you press Schedule letter or Send now in the review, one after the other. The dialog shows which file is on its way.
Record a voice or video message
Open the recorder
Press Voice or Video under the letter text. The dialog Voice recording or Video recording opens, and your browser asks for permission to use the microphone, and for video the camera too.
Record
For video, choose Camera and Microphone first and check the live picture. Press Start recording. You can pause and continue, and stop with the square button. The dialog shows the longest time your plan allows next to its title, and the recording stops by itself when that time is reached.
Listen, then keep or discard
Play the recording. Add to letter puts it in the list of files. The bin button discards it so you can record again.
A recording is a file like any other. It takes one of the places for files in the letter, counts towards your files of the month and your storage, and may not be larger than the largest file of your plan. A long video can reach that size before it reaches the time limit. The recording is then marked in red in the list, like any file that is too large.
The file is named after the kind of recording and the time it was made. Its ending follows what your browser really records: .webm in most browsers, and in Safari .mp4 for video and .m4a for voice.
What each plan allows
| Feature | Free | Time Master Pro | Postmaster |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest file | 1 MB | 25 MB | 100 MB |
| Files per letter | 3 | 10 | 10 |
| Files per month | 3 | 10 | 50 |
| File storage | 10 MB | 500 MB | 5 GB |
| Voice recording | 30 seconds | 10 minutes | 10 minutes |
| Video recording | 30 seconds | 10 minutes | 10 minutes |
- Largest file
- The limit for one single file. No plan goes above 100 MB, the most the server takes in one upload.
- Files per letter
- How many files one letter can carry. When fewer files are left in your month, that smaller number applies.
- Files per month
- Files you uploaded since the first day of the calendar month.
- Storage
- All your files together, also the files of letters that are delivered or expired, for as long as they exist. Deleting files on the Files page makes room.
Under the drop area the composer shows the numbers of your own plan, and how many files are left this month.
Which files are accepted
Images, video, audio, text files, PDF, office documents and archives such as ZIP are accepted. Programs and scripts that could run on the recipient's computer are refused, for example files ending in .exe, .bat, .sh or .js. The file picker follows the same rule as the server, so a file it takes is not refused for its type later. A file it does not take is answered with a message that it is not a file type that can be sent. The full list is in File types you can attach.
When files are uploaded
- Until you confirm the letter, the files exist only in the open page of your browser. Nothing is on the server yet
- They are not part of the draft. If you reload the page or close the browser, the text comes back and the files do not
- When you confirm, each file is uploaded and encrypted as it is written to the server
- If one upload fails, the letter is not scheduled. The dialog goes back to the summary and a message names the file and the reason. Press the button again: only the files that are still missing are uploaded
- Once the letter is confirmed, you cannot add a file to it or swap one. You can delete a file on the Files page, and the letter then goes out without it. The download limit of a file can also be changed there
What happens at the limits
| What you see | Why, and what to do |
|---|---|
| A file is red, with a note that it is larger than your plan allows per file | Remove it with the cross. Attach a smaller version, or choose a plan with larger files. |
| A lock in place of the drop area, with the number of files your plan allows per letter | The letter is full. Remove a file to add another. If you drop more files at once than there is room for, none of them is added. |
| A lock saying that you have used the files of this month | Wait for the next calendar month, or follow See plans. |
| A lock or a red file saying there is not enough room in your file storage | Delete files you no longer need on the Files page, or follow See plans. |
| File attachments are not included in your plan. | Your plan has no attachments. Follow See plans. |
| Remove the files marked in red before sending | The review does not open while a red file is in the list. A red file is never sent, so remove it yourself. |
| After confirming: a message that files could not be uploaded, with a reason for each | The server checks every file again. Typical reasons are a file type that is not allowed, a limit that was used up in another tab, or a lost connection. Fix the cause and press the button again. |
Attach stays clickable at a limit. Pressing it tells you which limit it is.
Good to know
- The notice email lists the names and sizes of the files. The files themselves are opened on the page of the letter
- A scheduled letter keeps its files until it is delivered, however far ahead that is. The time the link stays open only starts at delivery
- Deleting a letter under Manage Letters deletes its files too
- Give your files clear names. The recipient sees the name you uploaded
- Control how recipients open your filesDecide whether the files of a letter can be viewed online, downloaded or both, how often and for how long. Then follow, extend or delete them on the Files page.
- File types you can attachWhich files an email letter can carry, which are refused and why, and which the recipient can view in the browser.
- All limits in one placeEvery limit of FuturePostman on one page: plans, files, email letters, paper letters, public letters, link times and attempt limits.
- Write and schedule an email letterWrite an email letter, choose the moment it arrives, check the summary and schedule it. With what the draft keeps, how dates work and what counts as a letter of your month.