Zamzar launches free file conversion via email
The Zamzar website, which converts files between formats, has launched a new service: it will now convert files submitted by email. This could be particular useful to smartphone users who are often emailed files that their device is unable to display. Now they can email the file to zamzar.com, and Zamzar will email them a link to a new file in the desired format.
The system (announced here today) is easy to remember: you email your file to the format that you want returned. If you want to convert any type of file into a Microsoft docx file, for example, you email it to docx@zamzar.com, and so on. If you want multiple file conversions, simply send it to multiple email addresses. For example, you could send an unreadable image to jpg@zamzar.com, png@zamzar.com, gif@zamzar.com etc at the same time.
Zamzar handles dozens of file formats, including movies, but the free conversion only handles files up to a maximum size of 1MB by email. Paying business users can convert files up to 5MB by email. In many cases, then, users will have to go to the Zamzar website, which offers free conversions for files up to 100MB.
Users who sign up for a Zamzar account can convert files from 200MB to 1GB in size, and can store from 5GB to 100GB of files online, depending on how much they are willing to pay.
One of Zamzar's most useful features is the ability to convert Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) files into accessible and editable text formats. I tested the email service using what I hoped was a tricky file: a European Union file about kids' use of social networking. This included numerous graphs and charts, double column text, and footnotes. The result (see below) was impressive. The most obvious failing was that Zamzar's converted Word doc file had unjustified instead of justified text. However, you had to look hard to find other flaws. The only significant drawback was that the EU's original 199K PDF came out as a 4.5MB doc file.
I tried converting the same PDF file using the "Convert file to Google Docs" upload option. Given the nature of the file, the result was as pitiful you'd expect. Google translated the tops of some pages correctly but then the conversion would disintegrate, and the 13-page original was eventually rendered as a 29-page .odt aka OpenOffice document.
Users with Microsoft Office can use it to convert between numerous file formats, and there are plenty of free conversion utilities, particularly for Microsoft Windows. Zamzar has two potential advantages. First, it completely deskills the process. Users who don't really have a clue what they are doing (which is quite a lot of them), can usually manage to convert files via Zamzar. Second, the conversions are generally good and often better than alternatives.
Companies that have stringent rules about privacy and document security may want to limit or even ban the use of sites such as Zamzar to convert internal documents. However, there are billions of files on the open web, and there's no reason Zamzar can't be used to convert them into readable or more convenient file formats.
EU Kids: the original PDF
EU Kids: Zamzars conversion into a Word doc document
EU Kids: Google Docs online conversion into odt