SMC has always had limits on how large emails can be regardless of whether they are sent internally or externally. This limit is in place to keep our mail systems running efficiently and also to make sure no one accidentally sends out huge amounts of files. 

Our current limit is set to 50 MB (50,000 KB). This includes all fields and text of the email and attachments.

Attachments are not always displayed and stored on your computers file system in the same way they are stored on mail servers. It is a best practice to leave some extra space for “rounding up” and limit any attachment to 48 MB or less.

If you send an email that is too large, the mail servers will reject it. You will see this message when trying from the Outlook client:

You will see this message when trying to send from Outlook on the web browser:

Keep in mind that if you saved a copy of the sent email, it might be saved in your Draft or Sent folder and take up that space, even if it was rejected.

IMPORTANT: Just because we allow 50 MB emails doesn’t mean your recipient outside of SMC North America can receive those email sizes. Always check with your recipient before sending a large attachment as to how big the emails can be that they receive.

As suggested above, OneDrive is a great alternative to sharing files with individuals outside of SMC North America.

If you have any questions about this topic or any others please contact SMC IT Systems Support via support@1smc.com,  call x2000, or call 317-688-0050.