How do I resize photos for Gmail?

Gmail’s new look has been widely praised as an improvement over previous versions, but it still lacks one important feature – the ability to upload pictures directly into emails. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, read on!

Let me start off by saying that there are plenty of ways to attach photos in Gmail, including using Google Drive or Dropbox. But if all you want is to send a photo to someone who doesn’t have access to those services (and perhaps don’t need to share your entire drive), then here’s how to use Gmail’s built-in tools to insert photos.

Note: This guide assumes that you already know how to set up Gmail filters and labels (if not, check out our ultimate Gmail manual). It also assumes you’ve got at least some basic familiarity with editing photos in GIMP, Paint.NET or Photoshop, which we’ll discuss later. Finally, since these instructions will change slightly depending on whether you’re sending via desktop browser or mobile app, we’ll separate them accordingly.

In addition to making it easier to find stuff later, organizing things by type makes it easy to switch between different types of media without scrolling too much. We’ll go through everything step-by-step below.

How can I see the whole image in Gmail?

When uploading images and resizing them, keep two points in mind: First, always ensure that any images you include won’t overwhelm people trying to view the message. Second, consider where your recipient might end up displaying their mail – Gmail may only show part of the attachment, meaning that even though you uploaded a large file, they could end up viewing just a small portion of it. For example, if they open the message in Outlook, Mail or another client, they could be forced to download the rest of the attachment in order to fully enjoy it.

Keep the following guidelines in mind when deciding on the right dimensions:

For most users, 2 megapixels or less should be sufficient resolution. The more pixels per inch, the better.

A good rule of thumb is to assume that anyone reading your email will probably print it out anyway. So rather than waste space with lots of tiny icons, try keeping images simple and larger.

If possible, choose high contrast colors. Not everyone has top-end monitors, especially older ones. Your choice of color scheme affects both legibility and accessibility. You’ll save time searching for items because you’ll likely remember what you saw immediately after opening the message. High contrast means black letters on white background or vice versa.

Avoid gradients unless necessary. They take forever to load, aren’t very accessible and often look choppy. Also, avoid fancy effects such as drop shadows and embossing. These tend to slow down page rendering times.

Use solid backgrounds instead of patterns. Patterns can create artifacts around areas where transparency would normally occur, such as edges. Since these artifacts stand out against a solid background, they distract readers’ attention.

To test whether your email looks great, copy/paste it into Microsoft Word first and compare sizes. Don’t forget to account for the difference in formatting options available within Gmail versus other clients.

Finally, if you intend to embed an audio recording in your message, note that Gmail currently does not support embedded files greater than 1 MB. In other words, you must convert your MP3s to GIFs before attaching them.

How do I get a picture to fit in an email?

Once you’ve selected your image, click “Insert” followed by either “Picture”, “Image File,” or simply browse to select your photo. Depending on which option you chose, Gmail will prompt you to either pick an existing file or drag-and-drop an alternative. Once you’ve done this, Gmail will display a preview window showing exactly what your recipients will see once they hit reply. From here, feel free to adjust settings such as brightness, saturation, etc., until you achieve the desired effect. When satisfied, click “OK.”

Now let’s say you picked an image file instead of dragging-and-dropping. That’s fine. Click “Choose Image” next to the relevant field and navigate to wherever you saved your file. After selecting it, you’ll notice a few extra options pop up under its thumbnail. One of these is “Resize Images.” Select it and you’ll get a dialog box allowing you to change various parameters. As mentioned above, refer to the attached screenshot to determine what each setting does. To quickly apply changes, however, try changing Width to 500px, Height to 300px, and Resolution to Original Size. Note that doing so will reduce quality significantly.

As far as compression goes, your best bet is to leave JPEG alone. PNG tends to work well, although it isn’t particularly efficient.

Depending upon your source, certain formats may require additional steps to properly prepare them for inclusion in Gmail. For instance, TIFF requires converting photographs to JPG before inserting them. And while GIF works pretty much everywhere, sometimes you’ll encounter issues with animated.gif files. Instead of wasting time figuring out why this happens, stick to saving your final product as either a.jpg or.png.

One last thing worth mentioning is the possibility of adding watermarks to your images. While unlikely to cause problems, it’s a nice way to protect yourself from copyright infringement. Simply select “Watermark & Signatures” from the Edit menu, click “Add Watermark…” and follow the prompts.

Oh yeah, did I mention that you can now edit your own signature? Head back to Settings > General > Signature and customize your own.

How do I add a picture to an original size in Gmail?

If you didn’t modify your image during creation or conversion, chances are it was originally taken at a smaller resolution. Fortunately, Gmail allows you to scale it up manually. Just locate the image in question, head to Tools > Adjust Size…, and play around until you arrive at the perfect dimension. Alternatively, you can enter specific numbers in the corresponding fields. Whatever method you choose, make sure to pay close attention to the Preview area so you can spot unintended consequences.

An issue that many photographers run into is that they crop their images beyond recognition. Unfortunately, cropping is impossible to undo once applied. However, you can easily fix this problem by heading to Tools > Crop / Resize…. Then scroll down to “Crop Region:” and click “Select Existing Layer Boundary.” Now move your mouse across the image border until you reach the intended aspect ratio. Be careful not to accidentally cut off parts of your subject, otherwise you risk ruining the overall composition.

Another common mistake made by amateur shooters is taking shots with the wrong lens. Because lenses distort perspective, your resulting image will appear warped unless you’ve adjusted the distortion beforehand. Luckily, adjusting lens properties is quite straightforward. All you need to do is press Ctrl + Shift + U to activate Lens Distortion correction mode. Here, rotate the dial left or right until you arrive at the appropriate angle. Repeat this process until you arrive at the ideal value.

Why is my Gmail not full screen?

This generally occurs due to differing preferences among individual browsers. Often, the culprit is Chrome itself. Thankfully, Google recently introduced a solution called Responsive Design Mode. What this does is allow web pages to adapt themselves automatically based on device characteristics. More specifically, if you’re sending an HTML email, this function kicks in whenever someone tries to open it outside of Gmail.

By default, Gmail provides three modes: Basic Layout, Standard Layout and Compact Layout. Each displays your email differently, depending on the width of people’s screens. To enable this functionality, visit Settings > Composer > Full Screen View. Underneath “Enable Fullscreen Mode,” please ensure that “Show standard layout” is checked. Otherwise, Gmail will revert to whatever mode it thinks fits best on your computer.

With this said, we recommend leaving Responsive Design Mode enabled at all times. Why? Because it saves you from having to retype long paragraphs every single time you compose a new email. Plus, it offers a little bit of styling flexibility that no other interface gives you.

What about security risks?  Is there anything else I have to worry about when sharing sensitive information via Gmail?

Yes! Although there are several benefits to using Gmail as opposed to traditional methods (such as FTP) when exchanging data, there are also associated privacy concerns. Emails sent using Gmail are visible to anyone monitoring traffic coming from your IP address. There are numerous ways to prevent others from snooping on your activity. Most importantly, never log into accounts containing private personal information (e.g. bank details, social networking profiles, credit card info, etc.) from public computers.

The same applies to smartphones. Never install apps that offer remote management capabilities on phones used for confidential transactions. Better yet, use encrypted messengers such as Tor Messenger to securely communicate with friends and family members. Lastly, you shouldn’t use unencrypted Wi-Fi networks when connecting devices that contain sensitive data.

That being said, there are some situations where it would be impractical to implement these measures, namely when communicating with employees. In this case, you should adhere to strict policies regarding network usage and password protection.

It’s time to step up your game if you want people to pay attention to your emails. Instead of sending boring text-based messages, break away from plain old text and make your Gmail messages come alive by decorating them with inline images.

Unlike regular attachments, which are sent separately from the message itself, Google Drive files, or other file types, inline images — also known as “media attachments” — actually sit within the body of your email. When recipients open the messages, they can view all sorts of media like documents, presentations, and even videos right there on their inboxes (or through webmail). It’s an easy way to add some pizzazz to your emails without making them too long.

If you’re thinking about using this feature, here are three ways to shrink down any image into one of several sizes before attaching it to your emails.

First off, let’s start at the beginning — how exactly does the process work? Keep reading to find out…

How do I resize photos to send by email?

When composing new mail, whether via desktop application or mobile app, select the Attach File option. In most cases, clicking this will bring up a window where you can browse your computer or phone for different kinds of attachment options. You’ll probably notice two icons near the bottom corner of the screen — a picture icon and a camera icon. Clicking either opens up another menu selection allowing you to attach various forms of media such as PDFs, spreadsheets, audio clips, etc.

To upload an image, click on the first icon labeled Pictures & Camera. This brings up more choices than just Images & Photographs. Underneath, you should be able to spot the dropdown arrow next to Choose Files. Select this button and then use the dialog box that appears to search for images located anywhere on your hard drive. Once you locate the desired file(s), simply double-click on the picture to open its Properties panel. Then, under General Settings, look for Image Size and drag the slider around until you reach the maximum size you’d like to scale this image to. Hit OK, and voilà! Your image is now ready for uploading.

This method works great for those times when you need to create multiple copies of an original image, but don’t have access to Photoshop or GIMP. However, sometimes you may not know the exact dimensions required to fit everything together correctly. If this sounds familiar, keep reading to learn how to make images smaller to send in Gmail.

How do I make pictures smaller to send in Gmail?

Sometimes you may have a large image that needs to get scaled down, but you don’t necessarily know the specific pixel dimensions needed to accomplish this task. Luckily, we’ve got a solution for you. The following instructions take place entirely within the properties pane of a selected image.

Start by opening your image in whatever program you used to originally acquire it. Next, go back to your previous steps and grab hold of the Image Size setting. Now, instead of dragging this value around manually, type in the number you’re looking for directly beneath it. For example, if you wanted to convert 100 pixels wide to 75 pixels wide, enter 075 rather than changing the current value of 100. After doing so, hit Enter and watch what happens to your image. Depending on the kind of image you uploaded, you might end up getting a blurry mess, or worse yet, nothing at all. This usually occurs because the numbers entered aren’t big enough to accurately represent the proportions of the image. Fortunately, Google has provided us with a solution for these problems. To fix things up, we’ll set our values lower and higher based on the proportion changes we desire.

For instance, say we were scaling up an image from 100×100 pixels to 200×200 pixels. We would begin by typing 200 into the Image Size field, which provides us with plenty of room for error. Next, try increasing the width by 25 percent, while keeping height constant. So if our starting width was 125 pixels, increase it to 150 pixels. Do the same thing with height, decreasing it by 50 percent. Doing this gives our final output much better results.

After completing this procedure, adjust the Width and Height fields accordingly until you’re satisfied with the outcome. Finally, check out the Preview section underneath the Image Size settings. Here, you should be able to preview both versions side-by-side. Use the Preview tab to compare the differences between the larger version and the newly reduced one. When you’re happy with the result, hit Save Changes and exit. Now, you’re free to move onto reducing the size for other images. Repeat the above steps over again until your entire collection has been properly adjusted.

Now comes the fun part — learning how to resize photos to send in Gmail. Read on to discover why this technique isn’t always ideal.

How do I reduce the MB size of a photo in Google Photos?

A few years ago, my wife had her digital camera stolen from the car she drives every day. Since she uses Google Photos to store her photos, she was understandably upset. She asked me to help figure out how to reduce the size of each individual photo stored in her account.

In general, Google Photos allows users to compress images down to 16 megapixels. Unfortunately, many high quality photographs taken today exceed this limit, leaving no choice but to expand the actual resolution. However, since Google automatically compresses certain photos, this could cause issues. Even though you won’t ever encounter this problem yourself, it still pays to run a test case to ensure that your own images remain unaffected. Follow these simple guidelines below to determine if your particular situation warrants compression:

Take a screenshot of the image you want to modify.

Open Google Photos’ Preferences.

Select View and choose Original Quality.

Click Apply.

Save your modified copy of the image somewhere else.

Next, head back to your original copy of the image. Right-click on it and select Compress…. A small pop-up window will appear showing the difference between the original and compressed versions. If the resulting JPEG doesn’t provide adequate detail, you may decide to continue shrinking the image further. Otherwise, save your last modified copy somewhere safe.

Now that you’ve learned how to resize images to send, it’s time to put your newfound skills to good use. Feel free to share your best tips and tricks with others who wish to follow suit. And remember that if you enjoy tinkering with your images, consider sharing your creations with sites like Flickr, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Snapchat. Happy tweaking!

It’s been said before — how can an image be more than just an image if it isn’t attached as a separate item?  Break away from plain old text and make your Gmail messages come alive by decorating them with inline images. The same way you would put a graphic into Word or PowerPoint, use Google Docs’ “Insert” menu to insert pictures directly into your message (or attach files via drag-and-drop). And unlike regular attachments, which are automatically inserted into the bottom of each new message, these embedded graphics will appear right alongside your text. Your recipients won’t have to open another window just to view your document!

Here we’ll take a look at some ways to customize your emails using this powerful feature. We’ve broken down our solutions into three categories: resizing existing attachments, reducing sizes of already uploaded attachments, and getting rid of large photos altogether. Let’s begin!

How do I reduce the file size of a Gmail attachment?

If you’re sending a PDF over eMail, chances are that its size is too big – and not only because of the recipient’s limited bandwidth. If you send a 10MB file through Gmail, then upload it again within Gmail itself, you could end up wasting 20 percent of your precious hard drive space. Luckily, there are several tools available online that let you compress any type of file without losing quality. You might want to try one of these options instead:

Use Compress Pictures Online [Broken URL Removed]

This website offers multiple compression methods, including PNG8, GIF87a, JPEG2000, BMP2, TIFF, JPG, WebP, and even Facebook profile pictures. Just pick the format you need, choose the quality level between 0% and 100%, and click Upload File. Once you select either ZIP or RAR as the archive option, the site will compress all selected items together. When finished, download your compressed file and save it somewhere safe. That’s it – now you can safely delete the original files. To find out more about other useful features offered by this tool, check out their FAQ page.

Upload Multiple Files & Resize Images Online

With this service, you don’t actually upload individual files; rather, you simply browse your computer for multiple.JPG,.GIF,.BMP, or.TIF files. Then, after selecting where you’d like them to go, the program will compress those files according to your preferences. It also lets you change the name of each file individually, making it easier to identify them later. This method makes uploading and archiving much simpler, but keep in mind that smaller file sizes mean slower transfer speed.

ZIPIt Free Tools

The free version of this popular software allows users to zip up two different types of files – either both text (.txt) and graphical (.jpg,.gif) files, or single ones. In order to zip multiple files together, however, you must own the premium account ($19/year), which allows unlimited zipping sessions per month. With the premium package, you can convert multiple files into a variety of formats, such as 7z, CAB, Zipx, XLSM, PPTX, and many others. For additional details, check out their help section.

How do I resize photos for email attachments?

By default, Gmail doesn’t offer any functionality that helps you scale down your images. However, you may still wish to shrink a full-sized photo in order to fit it into your message. There are plenty of great sites dedicated solely to providing high resolution photo downsampling services. Below are two of my favorite choices:

PicResize

Picresize has always been among the top rated websites offering this kind of service. It utilizes advanced algorithms to determine the optimal reduction ratio while maintaining perfect clarity. Simply upload your larger source pictures, choose your preferred output dimensions, and hit Start Conversion.

ImageOptim

Like Picresize, Image Optimizer promises to optimize images without altering their color values. After choosing whether you’d prefer to work with lossless or lossy compression, enter the desired dimension for your final product. Click OK, and Image Optimizer will process everything accordingly. As soon as it finishes, you’ll receive links to download the optimized versions of your photos.

In addition to being able to adjust the brightness and contrast levels, you can also specify certain areas of a picture to focus on. These targeted optimization techniques allow you to create custom-made images that best suit your needs.

How do I reduce the MB size of a photo?

When you first start working with digital photography, you probably think that bigger means better. But once you realize that every megabyte counts, you may wonder why anyone would ever waste storage capacity on huge files. Fortunately, here are a couple of easy steps you can follow to minimize the amount of data used by your pictures:

First off, consider converting your RAW files into TIFF format. A raw file contains the unprocessed information needed to produce a photograph, whereas a TIFF file has already gone through the basic processing stages. By doing this conversion, you will essentially cut back the number of colors in your picture, resulting in fewer kilobytes. Also, most cameras record in a slightly higher bit depth than 8 bits. Therefore, it’s generally recommended that you should avoid shooting in anything above 12 bits.

You can perform this task easily via Photoshop. First, head over to Edit > Auto Tone Correction Tool. Next, under Corrections dropdown list, set Color Space to Adobe RGB and Preserve Details to Yes. Hit Ok in the dialog box. Now, whenever you import an image into Photoshop, it will retain its true characteristics. Unfortunately, this feature is currently unavailable in GIMP, so you may want to stick with creating TIFF copies until GIMP catches up.

Or maybe you plan on printing your photographs yourself. Whatever the case may be, you should know that your printer’s native resolution usually ranges anywhere from 600 x 800 pixels, upwards. Anything above this threshold is considered “oversized” and thus takes up unnecessary amounts of ink. So next time when you’re picking out frames for your prints, remember to keep things simple. Keep the number of people involved low, and ensure that everyone agrees on the exact dimensions beforehand.

Next, if you intend on publishing your images on social media sites, especially Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., you’ll definitely want to use TinyPNG. Their service provides users with high-quality, yet small sized images. They accomplish this feat by utilizing proprietary technology called Super Resolution™, which compresses millions of tiny dots into one giant pixelated image. All you have to do is copy and paste your link onto the provided field, input the required settings, and voilà! Instantaneously reduced image sizes!

How do I get the whole picture to show in Gmail?

Some folks like to take screenshots of important web pages and display them within their browser windows. Others prefer to embed entire webpages into Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird. Both approaches have drawbacks. Whenever you decide to run off-page programs, your content becomes vulnerable to viruses and malware attacks. On the other hand, if you decide to include complete webpages into your email clients, you risk cluttering them up with extra junk. What happens if your boss receives your personal email while he was browsing his company intranet today? He’d instantly lose track of whatever else was going on around him.

Fortunately, there exists a third alternative known as Embedded Media Gallery. With this solution, you can create thumbnail previews of any webpage. Users who receive your newsletter or message will be prompted to click on the displayed thumbnail in order to view the actual contents. While it does require a little setup effort, this approach creates a clean separation between your personal email and professional domain. Plus, you can rest assured knowing that no sensitive data pertaining to the underlying webpage is shared with other parties.

For more information about how to integrate IMGs into your emails, read Matt Smith’s guide on how to embed thumbnails into HTML emails.

Do you have any tips on optimizing images for emailing? Or perhaps you disagree with something written in this article? Feel free to share your thoughts below.