Frequently Asked Questions

Setup

Sending Files

Downloading Files

Inbound File Handling

Misc Questions





Setup

How much does it cost?

There are several types of Tonsho account, offering a range of file sending and inbound file handling features. We offer free accounts, however they have restricted features such as a limited number of file sends and low storage space. Our premium accounts provide an enhanced level of service functionality, such as the size and number of files you can send and file storage time. They also offer advanced features such as detailed download tracking, dropboxes, inbound file handling, and the ability to brand up your download page. For more details of the account prices and features see our pricing & signup page.

Can I try it for free?

Yes! Just sign up for a Free Account here.

Does it work with Mac?

Yes! Our service works with all standard email programs, including Mac Mail.

Does it work with Linux?

Yes! Our service works with all standard email programs (using the POP3 and SMTP protocols). It has been tested with Mozilla Thunderbird.

Can I only send files from my usual email program?

No, Tonsho is very flexible. You can choose to send large email attachments via your usual email program or via our website. This means that even if you do not have access to your usual email program you can still send files online using our website. However, to use the spam filtering function you will need your own email program.

Does it work with webmail like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo?

If you are a webmail user and want to use Tonsho for sending large files, you will need to use our website. Sign up for an account, login and then click on the 'Send Files' button on the user homepage

To use Tonsho for spam filtering, you need to use an email program like Microsoft Outlook, Mac Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird. You also need to access your mail through something called a POP3 server. Gmail and Hotmail provide POP3 access to your mail, so you can set up an email program to use Tonsho with these services. Yahoo offers POP3 access to premium customers only. For more information see:

How do I set up my mail program?

You will need to configure your email program to use our servers (mail2.tonsho.com). More details on how to configure your email program can be found on our setup page.

I don't have an email address. Can I still use Tonsho?

You will need your own email address before registering with Tonsho. You can get a free email account from many sources, including Google Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail.

What should I do with my current spam filter?

If you want to use Tonsho's spam filtering you will need to turn off any filtering that your ISP (Internet Service Provider) performs. You should also turn off any filtering that is performed by your email program.

Not sure if you want to use Tonsho's spam filtering? Visit our How It Works page to see the benefits and explanation of how the system works.

How do I change my current password?

Go to your Account settings (in My Account). Under 'Your general settings' you will see there is a 'Change' button that you can click on to change your account password. You will be prompted to enter your old password and to enter your new password twice. Remember to click 'Save' once you have made your changes.

How do I add an email footer / signature?

If you have a free account you are unable to add your own personalised footer. We automatically add a short message to the end of every email you send through Tonsho, advertising our services. To remove this advert or to add your own personalised footer, you will need to Upgrade to a Professional or Business account.

If you have a paid account you can make the changes: go to Email Footer in My Account. Click on 'Help' on the large pink horizontal bar and detailed instructions will appear on the page to guide you through the process.

Where do I find my existing POP3 server settings?

For Outlook users: from the Tools menu select 'Account settings'. Double-click on your regular email address to reveal information about your incoming and outgoing mail servers. Note this information down as you will need to enter it in the External mail page if you want to use any of Tonsho's inbound mail handling features.

For Thunderbird users: from the Tools menu select 'Account settings'. In the lefthand menu find your usual email address and underneath it, click on 'Server settings'. You will find your existing POP3 server name, port number and user name.

Alternatively a list of common POP3 servers can be found here.

Do you offer secure connections to your mail servers?

Yes, we offer both secure (SSL/TLS) and so-called unsecured connections for POP3 and SMTP. See the setup pages for more details.

Sending Files

What is the largest attached file I can send?

If you are using your usual email program and have a broadband connection, you can usually send files up to 100Mb. For larger files, your ISP's (Internet Service Provider) connection may fail part way through sending. If this occurs, we would recommend using our web-based bulk upload service which is designed specifically to deal with very large files (up to 5Gb) or with many files at one time. Even if your broadband connection fails, the bulk upload service will resume uploading once your broadband reconnects. To use the bulk upload service, log in and hit the 'send files' button or click here.

If you already have Java installed on your computer you will automatically go to the bulk upload page. All you then need to do is the upload your files, write your mail and send.

If you do not have Java installed, you will need to click on the pink link: "Switch to bulk upload service" button under the 'Subject' line. You will then need to install Java to use the bulk upload service.

What happens if I send an email without an attachment?

Emails without attachments are sent as normal. In fact any email where the size of the attachments is smaller than the configured minimum go through as normal. The default threshold is 1MB, this can be changed from the file attachment options page. The default setting is 1Mb as this is the size of email attachment that most email servers can handle without any difficulties. It is when your email attachment is larger that bounced emails and other problems occur and you need a large file sending service like Tonsho.

What happens to small attachments?

Small files, where it isn't necessary to use the Tonsho system, will go through as usual. By default the threshold for using tonsho is set to 1 MB. This can be changed from from the file attachment options page.

I sent some files already, how do I send a link to someone else?

Go to the Sent Files page on the Tonsho website and select the email. Then click 'Forward' and write your message. A link to the files will be inserted into the new email automatically.

What is the file-sending limit?

For all account types except Business and Enterprise accounts (which are unlimited), there is a limit to the number of large files you can send each 90 days. For details of the file sending limits for each account type view our Pricing and Signup table.

If an email contains one or more file attachments that are removed and stored on Tonsho, then that counts as one "send". It doesn't matter how many attachments are in the message, or how many people you send it to.

How do you calculate how many files I've sent?

We keep a record of the date you send each file, including ones that you have deleted. When you try to send a new file, we count how many you have sent in the previous 90 days and if you have already reached your file-sending limit your email will be rejected and you will be invited to upgrade your account.

What if I send a file when I'm over my limits?

If you try to send a file when you have reached your file-sending or storage space limit, then your email will be rejected by Tonsho. If the file that you are trying to send would push you over your storage space, then that email will also be rejected. When sending through the website, you will receive an error message when you try to send. When sending through your own email program, the email will be returned to you undelivered. Emails with attachments below the threshold will be delivered as normal. To send an email with an attachment once you have reached your limit, you will need to upgrade your account.

How do I password protect my files?

Go to the File Attachments page. In the 'Outbound' section, check the 'password protect files' option.

The next time you send an email a password will be generated once the file is sent. You will receive this password in the sent notification email that should arrive in your inbox shortly after sending, and your recipient will receive it in their download notification email, along with the link to download the file(s).

When should I use the bulk upload tool rather than the simple upload?

When sending files using the Tonsho website you have a choice as to whether to upload your files using the simple upload or the bulk upload. You can switch between the two by clicking on the link below the subject line. The main difference concerns the size and number of files you can send. With the simple upload there are limitations.

The bulk upload tool requires you to have Java installed on your computer (which is often already installed as standard). If you do have Java installed, by default you will go to this page first. If you do not have it installed you can click on the Java link on the bulk upload page. If you do not wish to install Java, then you can use the simple upload, although you will be limited in the size and number of files you can send.

With the simple upload you will only be able to send files to a maximum size of 100Mb. We would recommend using the bulk uploader for files over 30Mb or for sending more than 3 files. This is because your internet connection can fail when trying to upload a single large file or several large files. If you used the simple upload you would have to restart sending the files once the connection resumes, with the risk that your internet connection could disconnect again. With the bulk uploader, your upload will automatically continue from where it left off when your internet connection returns.

You can also use the bulk uploader to send small files and smaller quantities of files. Many of our users choose to use the bulk upload tool for all their file sending needs.

Downloading Files

What happens when I click on the download button in a Tonsho email?

When you click on the download button you will be taken to the download page. If a password has been applied to the files, you will need to login to Tonsho using your email address (i.e. the recipient's) and the password provided in the Tonsho email. The password is on the line above the download link. Once logged in you can click on the files to download them when you are ready. The download won't actually begin until you click on the files on the web page. You can either download the files one by one, or can hit the 'download all files' button.

How do I download images from Tonsho?

When you click on images in the Tonsho download page, normally your web browser will open the image and display it. In order to download the image right click over the link and select "Save Target As..." in Internet Explorer, or "Save Link As..." in Firefox.

Alternatively, you can just click on the 'Download all files' button, as long as you wish to download all files and don't want to just download one of the files listed. If you only want to download one file, use the previous method.

Is there a limit to the number of times a file can be downloaded?

Yes. For Free accounts you are limited to 20 downloads of each file. This limit is higher for premium accounts, with Business and Enterprise accounts having no limit. For full details see the Pricing and Signup page. In addition to these file limits, all accounts are subject to a fair usage policy that limits the total data transfered per month. The total data transfer is the total amount of file data that can be sent and downloaded each month. The limits per month for each account are as follows:

Free: 1 GB
Professional: 35 GB
Business: 70 GB

What should I do if I receive an executable file via Tonsho?

You should treat this the same way as you would an executable received as a normal email attachment. Only run it if you were expecting it and know exactly what it is. Don't run it just because you recognize the email address - this can easily be faked. If in doubt just give the person who sent it a quick phone call to check.

I need a password to download the files. Where do I get this from?

You will have received an email informing you that there are files for you to download. Just above the link that you need to click on to download your files, you will find the password. Once you click on the link you will be taken to a login page where you will need to enter your email address and the password. You will then be taken to the download page.

How do I put my logo onto the download page?

The Tonsho logo is the default image that will appear at the top of the download page. If you have a Professional, Business or Enterprise account, this can be changed to your own logo.

Go to the File Attachments page. At the bottom of this page in the 'Your logo on the download page' section, click on 'Edit'. Click on 'Browse' to select the image file you would like to use. You can also change the link to your own website so that if a user clicks on your logo they will be taken to your site. Remember to hit 'Save' once you have made your changes.

How do I track file views and downloads?

Go to the Sent Files page. Select an email and click on 'Delivery Report' to see the number of views, downloads and who has downloaded the files and when. For full instructions on file-tracking, click on 'help' on the pink horizontal bar on the 'Sent Files' and 'Delivery Report' page.

Inbound File Handling

How do I set up Tonsho so it handles large files sent to me?

Tonsho can strip out large email attachments that are sent to you so that your inbox doesn't get clogged up.

The first thing you will need to do is to configure your email program to use our servers (mail2.tonsho.com). More details on how to configure your email program can be found on our setup page.

Once you have configured your email program you will need to go to the File Attachments page. In the 'Inbound' section, select from the dropdown menu the minimum size of file you would like to be extracted. You also have the option to password protect these files by ticking the checkbox.

If a file is removed from an email you receive, you will be sent an email by Tonsho with a link to download the file.

How do I set up a dropbox?

A dropbox allows people to upload files to you. Any uploaded files will be stored on the Tonsho web server for you to download. This helps to prevent emails that people try to send to you being bounced back and also stops your inbox from being clogged up with large files.

To access the dropbox function you will need to have a Professional, Business or Enterprise account. For full instructions for setting up your dropbox go to the Dropbox page and click on the help button on the right-hand side of the pink horizontal bar.

How do I set up spam filtering?

To use spam filtering you will need to have set your email program so that the Tonsho servers handle your incoming email. You will not need to do this if you have an Enterprise account because Tonsho already handles all of your mail. More details on how to configure your email program can be found on our setup page. This process is effectively telling your email program to send and receive email from Tonsho's servers.

Once you have done this you are then ready to set your spam filter settings. Go to the Spam Filter page in 'My Account'. For guidance on which settings to select, click on the dropdown help button on that page (top right in horizontal pink bar).

It is also recommended to import your contacts from your email program to your allowed contacts list. For instructions see the next question.

How do I import contacts from my email program to my allowed contacts list?

When you first use the spam filtering it's a good idea to add all of your existing contacts, which you can do through the 'Import button'. This will bring up a new dialog window, where you can import from a CSV file or from Plaxo. Most email clients allow exporting contact data as csv data. Plaxo is a popular contact management service which can collect together contacts from multiple sources such as Outlook, Thunderbird etc.

For instructions on how to manually export your contacts from the most common email programs click on the links below:

For instructions on how to manually export your contacts from the most common email programs click on the links below: For other email programs, there is usually an option to export your contacts in one of the menu choices. Be sure to export your contacts as a CSV file.

For instructions on how to manually export your contacts from the most common email programs click on the links below: When you export your contacts all of the information about that person is exported, not just their email address. Tonsho only needs the email addresses, so when you click on the Import button on the Allowed Contacts page you will need to enter the 'name of the email field'. The 'name of the email field', is the name of the column that the email address is found under in the exported file. For Outlook enter 'E-mail Address', for Mozilla Thunderbird, enter 'Primary Email'.

For instructions on how to manually export your contacts from the most common email programs click on the links below: For other programs you will need to open the exported file in Excel to find out what the field name is. Go to the column where all of the email addresses are. At the top of this column in the first row, the column will be labelled with something like "primary email" or "email address". Copy and paste what this field label is and enter this into the 'name of the email field' option in the import window. In the 'File' section browse for the file that has your exported contacts. Then click on 'Import'. When you return to your allowed contacts list you will need to refresh the page to see your imported email addresses.

Do you have an out-of-office auto-responder?

Yes! This feature is available if you have a Professional, Business or Enterprise account. Click here to upgrade. You will also need to have set up your usual email program (e.g. Outlook, MacMail, Thunderbird etc) so that Tonsho handles your incoming mail. If you haven't already done so, follow the instructions to configure your email program on our setup page. You will not need to do this if you have an Enterprise account or a tonsho.com email address as Tonsho already handles your email.

Now all you need to do is go to the AutoResponder page in My Account and enter what you would like to appear in the Autoresponse message. If you need any help, click on the 'help' button on the right hand side of the pink horizontal bar at the top of the page. Don't forget to click 'save' once you have entered your message!

Misc Questions

My contact details have changed. How can I update them?

Go the Contact Details page in My Account, enter the changes and click 'Save'.

What is the External Mail page for in My Account?

You will need to enter information in the 'External Mail' page if you have chosen to use Tonsho to handle your incoming email. This is so you can use our inbound file handling features such as file stripping of large incoming files, spam filtering and out of office auto-responder. For more details on these features go to the What's Tonsho page and the Inbound Email Handling section. To setup any of these features go to the relevant help question:

How do I set up Tonsho so it handles large files sent to me?

How do I set up spam filtering?

Do you have an out-of-office auto-responder?

How can I ensure that my files stored on Tonsho are not deleted after the expiry date?

Go to the Sent Files page and select the files that you do not want to be deleted and click on 'Make Permanent'. The 'Make Permanent' feature is only available to users with a Professional, Business or Enterprise account. To upgrade, click here.