Macenstein

YouSendIt has released a new desktop Mac client for its popular file transfer service for businesses and individuals. YouSendIt Express allows you to send files as large as 2 GB each from your desktop without having to open the YouSendIt web interface.

These days many of us either have .Mac accounts or personal web servers we can use to send large files across the web. The problem is, sending a client to a .Mac account often looks less than professional, and most webservers don’t provide you the range of extras that YouSendIt does. For instance, you can set download limits on the number of times a file can be downloaded when the link should expire, and whether it is password protected. (I personally love the expiration date feature, as weeding though my ftp site deleting old files is never fun.) But the most useful feature I’ve found is the delivery confirmation option which lets you know when your client has successfully downloaded a file. This means you don’t have to bug clients via phone or e-mail to ask them if they have downloaded a file yet, and if it’s OK to delete it. It also means they can’t claim they never got it. Additionally, for a slightly more professional feel, you can also customize the web portal your client will see when downloading files with your company’s logo.

Above: I love having FiOS.

The biggest benefit to using the Express application over the web interface is the “auto resume” feature which will resume an upload if your internet connection is interrupted. This is great for laptop users relying on sometimes flaky WiFi connections that can drop halfway through a 2 GB upload, forcing you to start over. It’s also great if your internet connection isn’t all that fast, and you don’t want to have to wait around at the office for an upload to finish before going home. Simply bring your laptop home with you and resume at your convenience.

Above: You can add your own logo to the page your clients see when picking up your files.

The downside to YouSendIt Express is that in exchange for the speed and ease it delivers in quickly sending files, the trade off is you do not have the range of options you have via the web portal, such as the delivery confirmation and download limit checkboxes. This is a shame as those are some of the major selling points of the service, and I would hope those features will be added to Express in the near future. Still, it’s a great app that makes sending large files easy and convenient, especially for mobile users. If you’re a YouSendIt user, you should definitely pick it up. If you’re not, YouSendIt has a a free 14-day trial.