Attachments

Mail Merge can attach files to your emails in two ways: the same files for everyone, picked from your computer or Google Drive, or different files per recipient, taken from a column of Google Drive links in your sheet. Both ways take several files: a price list and a catalog for everyone, or two or three personal documents per recipient.

Limits

• 10 files per email, counting the files attached to the whole campaign plus the recipient’s own.
• 5 MB per file, and 40 MB of distinct files per campaign. Gmail itself refuses larger messages.
• A Google Drive file must be readable by the account you send from, or shared publicly.
• Google-native files (Docs, Sheets, Slides) are attached as PDF.

The same files for every email

In the editor toolbar:

• Attach a file or image (the paperclip) uploads one or several files from your computer; you can also drop files onto the editor. Images go into the body; any other file becomes an attachment chip under the editor.
• Attach from Google Drive opens Google’s file picker. Select one or several Drive files (hold Ctrl/Cmd or Shift in the picker); each becomes a chip. Open the picker again to add more.

The chips under the editor list what will be attached; the × on a chip removes that file. The review panel lists the attachments of the email it previews. The same two buttons exist in the template editor, so a template can carry its attachments — all of them are added to the campaign when you insert the template.

The first time you attach from Drive, Mail Merge may ask for permission to read your Drive files. Click Grant access and approve it on Google’s screen.

Different files per recipient

Put a Google Drive link in a column of your sheet, one per row (a row can also be left empty). Then, in the campaign builder, click Add attachment in the To row and pick that column.

In the web app, the same mapping is the Attachment column of the recipients dialog when the recipients come from a Google Sheet or an uploaded file.

Each recipient receives the files their row points to. A link can be any Drive sharing link or a Drive file id. To send several files to one recipient, put several links in the cell, separated by commas, semicolons or line breaks (Ctrl/Cmd + Enter inserts a line break inside a cell in Google Sheets):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbC…/view, https://drive.google.com/file/d/2DeF…/view

The files are attached in the order of the cell. The campaign-wide attachments from the toolbar are added on top of the row’s files, and the 10-files-per-email limit counts both. A cell that would take an email past that limit is marked Attachment Error without sending.

Putting a file on Google Drive

1. In Google Drive, click New → File upload and pick the file.
2. Right-click the uploaded file and choose Share → Copy link. If the file should be reachable by anyone, set General access to Anyone with the link first.
3. Paste the link in the attachment column of your sheet.

Attachment errors

A row whose files could not be attached is marked Attachment Error in the status column, with the reason in the cell note — one line per failing link when the cell holds several. None of the row’s files is sent until every link works. The most common reasons:

• The file is too large: over 5 MB, or the campaign’s attachments exceed 40 MB in total.
• Too many files: the row’s links plus the campaign-wide attachments exceed 10 files for one email.
• The file could not be read: the link is wrong, the file was deleted, or the account you send from cannot open it. Fix the sharing settings and send the row again.
• Mail Merge needs permission to read your Drive files, or the Drive picker fails with a 403: the Drive permission was not granted. Click Grant access when prompted, or reconnect with every permission checked. See Troubleshooting.

Tip

We have a guide on how to send documents securely by email.