Insert Google Drive Files as Attachments Not as Links in Gmail

When you to attach a file from Google Drive in Gmail, the recipient gets the link to the shared file, not the actual file you wanted to send as an attachment.

Sending links instead of actual files in attachment may cause several problems. It is also a bad way to transfer files as the file might not be available always and there are multiple ways you can go wrong with it:

– You accidently revoke sharing permissions
– The file gets deleted/moved from the Drive
– If the Drive is not accessible to the recipient

Though this method may save email space, but is often confusing and sometimes we have to revert to manually downloading and then uploading the file as attachment.

You can now add Google Drive files as attachments while composing mail in Gmail. While selecting and inserting files from Drive, just select “Insert as Attachment” from the bottom-right hand side of the window. The whole process is shown below:

(If the above gif does not autoplay, please click and open it in a new tab)

Note that the standard attachment rules still apply with this method:

#. You cannot attach files from Drive that exceeds 25MB of attachment size limit. Though you can always attach big files as Drive links.

#. You cannot attach files from Drive that are not allowed in Gmail e.g. executable (.exe). batch or bin files.

As a thumb rule, if you want to transfer a file from Drive then send them as attachment, but if you want to share a file, then send them as Link. Another way to look at this is whether you want the recipient to be another owner of the file or you want the control on the file yourself.