Back Up Files To Email With Just One Click

I have had the email purists gang up on me for this in the past but I constantly use my Gmail account for backing up my digital life. This has led to the online lynch mobs chanting “an email account is not for backing up important documents!” and they are right to a certain extent. I wouldn’t dream of putting into my Gmail account things like my passport or my birth certificate. I’m not stupid!

But if I find things on the internet like pictures, MP3’s, video clips, and other such paraphernalia then I would rather store it in my large 6.6GB + Gmail account then have it lying around in my computer. Plus day to day things such as letters, documents, contracts, e-books and other pieces of paper that can be scanned and emailed to myself can also live in Gmail and can be accessed wherever I have access to a computer.

This is where the freeware software program Backup To EMail becomes extremely invaluable. I have been using it every day for months and it makes backing up files to email effortless and a cinch.

Backup To Email allows you to right-click on any file in your computer and send it to an email account that gives you POP / SMTP access. The program integrates itself into your Windows Explorer right-click menu so it really is a case of right-click and send :

After installing the program, you have to put in the email address you want to send the files to as well as the password of the email account. You also need to put in the details of the SMTP server.

What I find really cool is that the program accepts and recognizes the “+” for Gmail addresses. I have various labels set up for various kinds of emails so if I have one set up for say username+backup@gmail.com, the program accepts the email address and sends the file directly to the backup label in my Gmail account.

The only limitation with Backup To Email is that files over 10MB are broken up into pieces and sent in individual emails. So if your file is over 10MB, consider zipping it and getting the size down.

Once you start using this, you’ll wonder how you previously managed without it!

(By) Mark O’Neill is a blogger and professional freelance writer. Check out his blog at BetterThanTherapy.net

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