Sharing Large Files Using Your Personal Web Page

Summary

Sharing files with others can be difficult if the files are especially large. Instead of trying to email these files, a better option can be to use your public_html folder on the U: drive. Here you can post large files onto your personal web page and then send others the link(s) to these web pages so that they can view and download the files. The steps below explain this process.

Making Files Available for Sharing

1. First you will need to create a folder inside your public_html folder. The public_html folder is located on the U: drive.
   
   
2. Give the newly created folder a name that people will recognize, along with the date.
   
   For example: "project4-10-12"
   
   

3. Place each of the large files that you are wanting to share inside of this new folder.
   
   

4. For security purposes, you will want to give these files generic names.
   
   For example: "picture1.png"
   
   

5. Each file will now appear on your personal Bethel web page. You can send the following link to others and they will be able to view and download your files:  http://people.bethel.edu/~username/foldername/filename  
   
   For example: http://people.bethel.edu/~abc12345/project4-10-12/picture1.png 
   
   

 Sharing Multiple Large Files

If you are sending multiple files to a person, you will need to send the specific link for each file. If you have many files to send, it may be easier to do this by creating a zip file. Creating a zip file will place all of the files into one folder, which others can download once when they receive the link to the zip file.

1. In your public_html folder, select all the files you want to share and compress them by placing them into a zip file.
   
   

2. Give this zip file a generic, but related name.
   
   

3. This zip file can be accessed by going to the following address: http://people.bethel.edu/~username/foldername/zipfilename
   
   For example:  http://people.bethel.edu/~abc12345/project4-10-12/pictures.zip
   
   

4. When a person accesses this page they will be able to download and open the zip file.

Note: If these files contain any information that you do not want to be made public, it is important to remove them from your personal web page after you have shared them with the necessary people.