How To Upload Files to the TeSelle Family Website
There are three main ways to submit files to the family website:
- Attach file to email;
- Upload to a “cloud service” (e.g., Dropbox, Picasa, etc.);
- Mail electronic files of photos and/or documents to the webmaster.
These methods assume that you already have your photos and documents available in electronic format. If not, please read our FAQ article entitled, “How to Convert Paper Documents to Electronic Form.”
Attach File to Email
Perhaps the simplest upload method is to attach your image and document files to an email addressed to webmaster@tesellefamily.org. In your email, please tell us about the attached files, including description of the people and places, and importantly, what was the source of your photos and documents.
The drawback of email is the limitation on the size of the attachments. Often, email services will limit attachments to 5 MB or less. If you are attaching several files with a total size more than about 5 MB, you may have to send multiple emails. If you have a single attachment file that is larger than 5 MB, you may need to use one of the other methods to submit your files to the website (see below).
Upload to a “Cloud Service”
Cloud services include at least two major types:
- “Cloud Storage”, such as Dropbox
- “Photo Sharing”, such as Picasa, Flickr, or Shutterfly
These services offer free accounts, which you can obtain by signing up on any of their websites. The specific instructions for how to use each service will differ slightly for each service, but the concept is the same:
- Upload your files to a secure storage site on the internet;
- Obtain a link address to the location of each file;
- Share the link address with anyone that you wish to view or download each file.
A major advantange of a cloud service is that you can upload much larger files than you can send as email attachments. Individual file sizes up to 20MB each and even larger are commonly allowed on cloud storage services like Dropbox. Photo sharing services may be more limited.
A second advantage is that you have an offsite backup of all files that you have stored on the cloud service. If something catastrophic happens to your local computer and your files are destroyed, you have a backup copy of any files you have uploaded to your cloud service account. In fact, many people use a cloud service as a backup device for all their computer data.
Mail Your Photos and Documents Via Postal Mail (aka “Snail Mail”)
If electronic uploading is not comfortable or possible for you, you can always mail copies of your photos and documents either as paper copies or on a computer-readable DVD or CD. If you wish to mail your documents, please contact the webmaster using our Contact Form, and he will send you mailing instructions.
One drawback of “hard copies” (i.e., paper) is that the copies are never as good as the originals. If you do send paper copies, please make the copies as legible and sharp as possible. The preferred way to submit your paper photos and documents by mail is to scan those documents into an electronic format, and then copy those electronic files onto a DVD or CD. (See our separate FAQ article about “How to Convert Paper Documents to Electronic Form.”)
