Sending files in emails

To send files to your contacts, it's recommended that you host the file using a 3rd party platform such as Dropbox or on your website, then link to that file from your email. Doing so has several benefits:

• You can track subscriber engagement.
  By adding a link to your file from your email, you can track who clicked your link. If the file is hosted on your website, you can also track page visits using our Site Tracking feature. You can use this engagement data to create segments, tag contacts, add contacts to automations, adjust contact scores, and more. When you attach a file to an email instead, you won't be able to track this data.
• It can help you avoid the spam filter.
  Marketing emails that directly attach files are almost always flagged as spam by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) because of the rise of attachment-based email viruses. And even if they do make it through an ISP spam filter, your contact may still think it's spam and mark it as such. This can harm your deliverability, domain, and sender reputation. 
• It can help you avoid slow deliverability times.
  Attaching files directly to emails can increase the size of your message. When this happens, you can expect delays with contacts receiving your messages. Since you are only linking to the file from your email, your message size will not increase and contacts will get the information they need safely and quickly.
• Your email is less likely to bounce.
  Files attached to emails are more likely to bounce due to mailbox storage and file size limits. By linking to a file instead, you can avoid this issue and contacts will receive your message.

Add a file by hosting it on your website

Another method you can use is to host the file on your website, then include the link in your email. 

To add a link to your email:

1. Copy the URL of where your file is hosted online. 
2. In a separate window or tab, log into your ActiveCampaign account.
3. Locate the email you wish to add a file to.
   • If you wish to add a file to a campaign, navigate to the Campaigns Overview page and click "Continue" for that campaign.
   • If you wish to add a file to an automation email, navigate to the Automations Overview page, click "Edit" for the automation the email is in > click the email > Click "Edit."
4. Locate the text you wish to add the link to and highlight it. 

5. Click the link icon and paste the URL of your file into the field provided. Then click "OK."

6. Click "Save & Exit."

Add a file using the ActiveCampaign Dropbox integration

Dropbox is a cloud storage service that you can use to upload and host files. Our integration will let you directly link to a file stored in Dropbox from your campaign or automation email.

Use the ActiveCampaign Dropbox integration to add files to your campaigns and automation emails.

How to directly attach a file to your email

If you created an email using either the "Build from Scratch> Custom HTML" or the "Build from Scratch>Text only" option, you can attach one .DOC, .DOCX, .JPG, or .PDF file that is no larger than 1 megabyte to your message. As a reminder, directly attaching files to your email is not recommended as a best practice.

Note that it's not possible to directly attach files to one-to-one emails or campaigns and automation emails that were created using the drag-and-drop email designer.

To directly attach a file to your email:

1. Create a campaign or automation email that uses either the "Build from Scratch > Custom HTML" or "Build from Scratch > Text Only" option.