Preliminary information
Prima di enter the live tutorial, walking to spiegare how Mail Drop works, it seems only right to provide you with some preliminary information regarding the service in question, in order to allow you to clear your mind about it as much as possible.
As anticipated at the beginning of the post, Mail Drop is a function offered by Apple based on iCloud, that is the cloud service of the Cupertino group. Allows you to email attachments (all types of files are supported) that exceed the maximum limit of 20 MB set by the "bitten apple" company for standard attachments that can be sent in Mail (and also by many providers emails, which limit the size of attachments that can be included in individual emails).
With Mail Drop, therefore, it becomes possible to send attachments with weight up to 5 GB means Mail (the default e-mail client of macOS, iOS and iPadOS, also accessible in the Web version), which remain available for download for 30 days, after which they are eliminated. In this regard, it is good to keep in mind that Mail Drop provides a 1 TB storage limit.
Another thing to consider is that to send heavy attachments with Mail Drop it is not necessary that the recipient of the message must in turn have an iCloud account, use Mail as a client and / or have Apple-branded devices. In all cases, in fact, the user who receives the email will find appropriate ones in it link which, when clicked, allow you to download large files to your device via a common web browser.
I also remind you that to take advantage of Mail Drop it is essential to use Mail on a Mac updated to macOS Yosemite or later or an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 9.2 or later. Using the service from the Web, however, regardless of the operating system in place, just use a browser among the most popular ones.
For more details about the Mail Drop limitations and the minimum requirements to use the service, you can refer to the appropriate page of the official Apple support.
Mail Drop Mac: how it works
Having made the necessary clarifications above, let's get to the heart of the tutorial and let's find out how Mail Drop works on Mac.
To begin with, start the application, Mail su MacOS, facendo click on the relative icon (Quella with il stamp) that you find in Launchpad and / or on the bar Dock, and make sure you have configured your mail account (it does not necessarily have to be the iCloud one) by selecting the menu Mail placed at the top left, then the entry Account from the latter and proceeding as I explained to you in detail in my guide on how to set up e-mail on your computer.
Next, you need to enable the use of Mail Drop for the email account of your interest. To do this, click on the menu Mail placed in the upper left, then on the item Pref Renze and, in the window you see appear on the desktop, select the tab Account. At this point, select il your mail account from the list on the left, make sure the panel is selected Account information, on the right (otherwise you can do it yourself), and check the box next to the wording Send large attachments using Mail Drop.
Once this is done, close the Mail preferences window and start composing a new message by clicking on the button with the paper and the pencil that you find in the upper left part of the program screen that you now see.
In the email composing window that is shown to you, fill in the fields adjacent to the items A, Cc e Subject present at the top with, respectively, the recipient's email address, the addresses of the users you want them to read in copy and the subject of the message. Also, if you have configured more than one email account in Mail, select the one you want to use to send the message from the drop-down menu Da.
Then, choose any signature you want to affix to the email from the menu Company, type the body of the message in the appropriate area at the bottom and attach the file you want to send via Mail Drop, by clicking on the button with the clip present at the top and selecting it from your computer. Then send the message by pressing the button with thepaper airplane at the top left.
Mail Drop iPhone: how it works
You don't have the Mac at hand and would like to understand then how Mail Drop works on iPhone? I'll explain immediately how to proceed. First, grab your device, unlock it and access the home screen of iOS, then make sure that your e-mail account (it does not necessarily have to be the iCloud one) is configured on the device, by tapping on the Settings (Quella a forma di ruota d'ingranaggio), selecting the voice Password and account (on iOS 14 and later you have to go up Settings> Mail or Settings> Contacts) in the following screen and proceeding as I explained to you in detail in my guide on how to set up Mail on iPhone.
Now you need to verify that the use of iCloud features are enabled for Mail (if you haven't already done so, of course). To do this, go back to the main screen of the Settings, touch the you don't know present at the top, tap on the item iCloud e carries his ON l'interruttore che trovi accanto alla dicitura Mail.
After completing the steps in question, you can finally proceed with sending the message with attachments using Mail Drop. To do this, first, go back to the iOS home screen and select the application icon Mail (Quella with the white envelope and the blue background).
Once the Mail app is open, start composing a new e-mail message by tapping on the icon with the paper and the pencil located at the bottom right and, on the screen New message that is shown to you, fill in the fields located next to the items A, Cc e Subject present at the top with, respectively, the recipient's email address, those of the users you want them to read in copy and the subject of the message.
Type, therefore, the body of the message in the appropriate field located at the bottom, then attach the heavy file you want to include in your email, by tapping on the left arrow that you find in the bar above the keyboard, then pressing the button with the sheet and selecting the element of your interest from the file manager screen.
If, on the other hand, you want to attach images or videos saved in the photo gallery of the device, press the icon depicting the landscape which you can always find on the bar just above the keyboard and select the items of interest to you from the menu that appears.
In addition to the way I have just indicated, you can attach files to your email by tapping in an empty spot in the section dedicated to entering the body of the message, pressing on the blinking cursor and selecting, from the menu that opens, the option Add document or that one Insert photos or videos.
To conclude, proceed with sending the email message, by tapping the button with the up arrow found in the upper right corner of the screen. When you see the warning appear indicating that the attachments you are trying to send may be too heavy and then you are asked if you want to use Mail Drop, you select the option Usa Mail Drop to proceed and wait for the sending procedure to be started and completed.
Mail Drop iPad: how it works
You own an Apple-branded tablet and would therefore like to understand how Mail Drop works on iPad? In this case, I inform you that the operations to be carried out to configure the use of the service and to be able to exploit it are identical in all respects to those already seen in the previous step regarding the iPhone.
Su iPadOS, in fact, you can follow the same indications that I have already given you regarding iOS, absolutely nothing changes.
Mail Drop iCloud.com: how it works
Now I want to explain to you how Mail Drop works on iCloud.com, that is, how to take advantage of the functionality in question by accessing Mail from iCloud website.
First of all, start the browser that you generally use to surf the Net from your computer (eg. Safari) and go to the iCloud.com home page.
Next, log into your iCloud account by typing yours Apple ID and Password associated in the appropriate fields, passing the procedure of multi-step verification and authentication possibly enabled and, if required, deciding whether to authorize or not the navigator for accessing the service.
Once logged in, you need to worry about enabling the use of Mail Drop for the email account of your interest. To do this, click on the icon of Mail (Quella with the white envelope and the blue background) and, on the next screen, press the icon in the shape of ruota d'ingranaggio at the bottom left and select the item Pref Renze give the menu check if you press.
In the box that is proposed to you, then select the card Composition and check the box next to the wording Usa Mail Drop to send heavy attachments, then confirm the changes made by clicking on the item Save located at the bottom right.
At this point, you can finally dedicate yourself to composing the message that you intend to send with Mail Drop. So, click the button with the paper and the pencil which is located at the top and, in the additional window that opens, fill in the fields located next to the items A, Cc e Subject with, respectively, the email address of the recipient, those of the users you want them to read in copy and the subject of the message.
Then compose the body of the email in the appropriate area located further down and attach the file you want to send with Mail Drop, by clicking on the icon with the clip located on top and selecting it from your computer.
Wait, therefore, for the upload of the selected file to be started and completed (you can easily realize this through the appropriate progress bar that appears below) and proceed with sending the message, by clicking on the item Send located at the top right.
Mail Drop: how it works
