How to Email a PowerPoint Presentation That Is Too Big to Send?

Have you ever tried to email a PowerPoint presentation only to get an error message saying the file is too large to send? Many email providers have file size limits, often around 20-25 MB, which can be too small for PowerPoint files containing a lot of slides, images, videos, or other media. Fortunately, there are several ways you can work around this issue and successfully send large PowerPoint presentations via email.

Why Your PowerPoint File Might Be Too Big to Email

PowerPoint presentations can easily become too big to email due to:

• High-resolution images
• Embedded video or audio files
• Detailed charts and graphs
• Large numbers of slides
• Inefficient compression of media within the file

All of these elements take up file space and can quickly push your presentation over the typical 20-25 MB email attachment size limit. But don’t worry – there are solutions!

How to Reduce the File Size of Your PowerPoint Presentation

Here are some ways to make your PowerPoint file smaller so it can be emailed:

1. Compress Images

One of the most effective ways to reduce your PowerPoint file size is to compress the images within it. High-resolution images can take up a lot of space. To compress them:

1. Select an image in your presentation
2. Go to the “Picture Format” tab
3. Click “Compress Pictures”
4. Choose your desired resolution and compression options
5. Click “OK”

Repeat this for each image in the presentation. But be careful not to over-compress images to the point that they look bad – aim for a balance between file size and visual quality.

2. Link to Videos Instead of Embedding Them

Video files can dramatically increase the size of your PowerPoint presentation, especially longer, high-resolution videos. Instead of embedding videos into your presentation, upload the video to a streaming platform like YouTube or Vimeo and then link to it within the presentation.

To do this:

1. Upload your video to YouTube, Vimeo, or your preferred video hosting platform
2. Copy the URL of the uploaded video
3. In your PowerPoint presentation, go to the slide where you want to link the video
4. Go to the “Insert” tab and click “Video”
5. Choose “Online Video”
6. Paste in the URL of your uploaded video
7. Click “Insert”

Now your presentation will display the linked video without significantly increasing the file size.

3. Save as a PowerPoint Show (.ppsx) File

PowerPoint offers a file format called PowerPoint Show (.ppsx) which is optimized for presentations. PPSX files tend to be more compressed than regular PowerPoint (.pptx) files.

To save as a .ppsx file:

1. Click “File” then “Save As”
2. Next to “File name” click the dropdown arrow
3. Select “PowerPoint Show (*.ppsx)”
4. Click “Save”

Your presentation will now be saved in the more compressed .ppsx format. Note that this format opens directly into presentation mode.

4. Delete Unused Slides, Images, and Assets

Go through your presentation and delete any slides, images, videos, audio clips, or other assets that aren’t absolutely necessary. Be judicious – you probably don’t need that third photo on the “About Us” slide. Paring down your content can significantly reduce file size.

How to Send a PowerPoint Presentation When It’s Still Too Big

If you’ve compressed images, linked videos, saved as a .ppsx, and deleted unnecessary assets but your PowerPoint file is still too large for email, you have a few more options:

1. Use a Cloud Storage Service

Cloud storage services like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox allow you to upload large files and then share access with others via a web link.

Here’s how you can use Google Drive to send a large PowerPoint file:

1. Go to drive.google.com and sign in
2. Click “New” and then “File upload”
3. Select your PowerPoint presentation and click “Open”
4. Once uploaded, right-click the file and select “Share”
5. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to share with
6. Choose their access permissions (view, edit, etc.)
7. Click “Send”

Recipients will get an email with a link to view the PowerPoint in their web browser or download it.

2. Use a File Compression Tool

File compression tools like WinZip, WinRAR, and 7-Zip can further compress your PowerPoint file so it’s within the email size limit. These tools work by efficiently encoding the data in your file to take up less space.

To use WinZIP to compress a PowerPoint file:

1. Right-click your PowerPoint file
2. Hover over “WinZip”
3. Select “Add to Zip file…” (Name the zip file)
4. Click “Add”

A new zip file will be created containing your compressed PowerPoint presentation, which you can then attach to an email.

3. Split the Presentation into Multiple Files

As a last resort, you can split your PowerPoint into multiple smaller files, each containing a portion of the presentation. This works well when different parts of the presentation will be presented by different speakers.

To do this:

1. Open your presentation in PowerPoint
2. Select the slide where you want the first section to end
3. Go to “File” then “Export”
4. Choose “Create Handouts” then “Create Handouts in Microsoft Word”
5. In the “Send to Microsoft Word” dialog box, select “Paste” then click “OK”
6. In Word, delete slides until you’re left with the first section
7. Save the Word document
8. Open the original PowerPoint file and delete the slides you just put in the Word doc
9. Save this as a new PowerPoint file

Repeat this process for each section. You’ll end up with multiple PowerPoint files small enough to attach to an email.

Summary

While PowerPoint files can often be too large for email due to high-resolution images, embedded media, and large numbers of slides, there are many solutions:

• Compress images to reduce resolution while maintaining quality
• Link to videos instead of embedding them
• Save as a .ppsx file for better compression
• Delete unnecessary content to slim down your presentation
• Use cloud storage services like Google Drive to upload and share large files
• Compress the PowerPoint file using tools like WinZIP
• Split the presentation into multiple smaller files as a last resort

With these techniques, you can make sure your well-crafted PowerPoint presentations always reach their intended audience, no matter how large the files become. Don’t let email size limits be a barrier to sharing your great work!

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Trish Dixon

Trish Dixon is the founder of PPTBliss and a PowerPoint expert with over a decade of experience in presentation design. Passionate about visual storytelling, Trish shares her expertise through easy-to-follow tutorials on slide design, animations, transitions, and best practices, helping professionals create impactful presentations across industries.

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