How to Use Upload Files to Send Large Files to Your Website Visitors

Upload Files is a feature of web forms that allows users to upload files from their computers. This feature is important for businesses that want to get data from their website visitors in the form of documents, images, or videos.

A document file is a file format that contains text and pictures. Some document files are fillable, like PDFs.
Documents

Documents are a key part of any business, from employee handbooks and contracts to product brochures and marketing materials. Getting these files from one location to another is critical, especially when you want the recipient to be able to edit or sign the file without having to print it or send you a physical copy.

If you have a document on your computer or on another device, it can be uploaded to a website or program using an “upload” option that will let you browse to find the file and select it. Most programs and websites will also have instructions on what formats will work best.

If you have a hard copy of a document that needs to be uploaded, you may need to scan it or use a mobile phone with high-resolution camera capabilities to take a photo. You will then need to convert the scan or photo into a digital format that is compatible with your destination program or site.
Images

If you’re collecting photos from your visitors, uploading them to a digital asset management system is the best way to store and manage your images. DAM systems are designed for storing large quantities of image files, and can organize, sort and search images by metadata to make them easier to find later.

Advanced file uploaders support automatic photo resizing, so that photos are automatically reduced in size before they’re saved to the server. For example, if a photo is 2448 x 3264 pixels, the image will be reduced to 886 x 1182 pixels before being uploaded, thereby saving disk space and maintaining the same quality of the original image.

The Image Alt attribute is also supported by most advanced file uploaders, allowing you to include a text rollover to display on your image. This is useful for Section 508 compliance, or to support visually impaired users.
Audio

Whether it’s music tracks, podcast recordings or voiceover recordings, audio files are usually quite large in size and require ample storage space. But with the right mode of transport, it’s possible to get those recordings to the intended recipient quickly and easily.

Most platforms allow for uploading audio files as attachments – but there are also other ways to send them. For instance, you can use a file transfer service like Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer and upload your files there. Then you can share them via a link and your recipients can listen to them in the browser of their choice.

MP3 is one of the most common formats for audio files, because it’s compressed and reduces the file size without affecting the sound quality. Lossless compression formats (like FLAC or ALAC) are more expensive but offer the best sound quality. They’re also harder to download from sites that stream audio or have the audio embedded into a web page.
Video

Video files can be quite large and if you are trying to share them via email they will often get rejected due to size constraints. Fortunately there are several easy ways to overcome this problem.

You can upload media and select options for publishing, captioning and tags directly using the Add Media interface. You can also add words to the Auto-captioning Dictionary for the media file.

Once the files are uploaded you can use the Media Module to view and process them. The status of the uploaded files will appear in a window, docked to the bottom right of the screen (Fig. 2).

If you are working with multiple people on video production projects you can streamline review and approval processes by sharing videos online for comment, revision and approvals. GoVisually provides a simple and secure way to do this without creating messy revision email threads. Try GoVisually for free today. It’s a great solution for anyone who needs to share video files online.