Send a folder without zipping it

Why can’t I attach a folder to an email?

Email attachments are individual files, so mail apps either refuse a folder or ask you to compress it first. Zipping works, but it adds steps on both sides: you wait for the archive to build, your recipient has to unpack it, and on a phone that is often where things go wrong. For photos and videos, a ZIP barely saves any space because those formats are already compressed.

A transfer that understands folders skips all that. You drop the folder, the service records where each file sits, and your recipient sees the same tree you had on your computer.

How to send a folder with Transfr

1. 1

   Step 1

   Open Transfr on a computer

   Go to Transfr. On the home page, long-press the upload button to pick a folder, or drag the folder straight onto the page. In the transfer form, use Add folder.

2. 2

   Step 2

   Add as many folders as you need

   Combine several folders and loose files in one transfer. There is no limit on the number of files, up to 100 GB in total on the free plan.

3. 3

   Step 3

   Check what is included

   Each top-level folder appears with its file count and size, so you can spot a forgotten subfolder before sending.

4. 4

   Step 4

   Share the link

   Copy it, or email it to up to 10 people. Add a password or an expiry date if needed.

What the recipient sees

The download page shows the folders and files as you organised them. Your recipient can open photos, videos, PDFs and documents in the browser, download any single file, or download everything at once.

“Download all” gives them one ZIP with the full folder structure, whatever the size of the transfer. The ZIP is assembled as it downloads, so there is no long wait, and the files inside are the untouched originals. They unzip it and find the same tree you had on your computer, subfolders and file names included.

Folder or ZIP: which should you send?

In short: send the folder in almost every case, and zip only when you want to shrink text-heavy files or add archive-level encryption. Our article on whether to zip files before sending goes deeper.

Sending a folder or sharing a cloud folder?

Sharing a Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox folder gives people access to a live folder: they see changes as you make them, and they keep access until you remove it. Sending a folder through Transfr hands over a snapshot: the files as they were when you sent them, available for a set time, then gone.

• Share a cloud folder for ongoing collaboration with people you work with every day.
• Send a folder for deliveries: a finished job to a client, files to a printer, a project handed to a freelancer. Nobody edits your originals, nothing stays shared by accident, and the folder does not eat into your storage.

Free cloud storage is also small for this: 15 GB on Google (shared with Gmail and Photos), 5 GB on OneDrive, 2 GB on Dropbox Basic, as of October 2026. A Transfr transfer takes up to 100 GB without using any of it. More in Google Drive versus a transfer service.

What kind of folders do people send?

• A photo shoot split into Selects, Rejects and Edited: see sending large photos.
• Video rushes organised by camera and day: see sending large video files.
• A design package with layouts, links and fonts: see sending design files.
• Plans and models for a construction project: see sending CAD and 3D files.
• Stems and mixes for a music project: see sending audio files.

Good to know before sending a folder

• Empty folders are kept, so a template structure arrives complete.
• End-to-end encryption flattens folders. With E2EE on, files are sent as a flat list because folder paths are not shared with the server. Name your files clearly, or send a ZIP inside the encrypted transfer.
• Phones are best for files, not folders. Mobile browsers pick photos and files easily but have limited folder selection. For folders, use a computer, or zip the folder in the Files app first.
• Clean up before sending. Remove old versions and temporary files: it saves upload time and confusion.

Need someone to send you a folder instead? A file request link accepts folders too, up to 100 GB per upload, and keeps their structure.