Gmail does not allow zip files with executables

I sent an email with a zip attachment the other day from my Gmail account and I received an Non-Delivery Report (NDR) from Gmail. At first I was very confused because I was purposely sending a zip file to get around any rejection of the attachment (the attachment was a C# development project that I had been working on).

This is the NDR email that I received:

From: System Administrator
Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 6:51 AM
Subject: Undeliverable: Emailing: project.zip
Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject:    Emailing: project.zip
Sent:    9/26/2009 6:51 AM

The following recipient(s) cannot be reached:
'XXXX XXXX' on 9/26/2009 6:51 AM
552 5.7.0 review our attachment guidelines.

A quick Google for what was going on turned up the answer: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=9481&cbid=-16aiqkfahjlzz&src=cb&lev=answer.

Gmail does not allow you to send zip attachments with executables in them.  From the Gmail FAQ:

Gmail allows you to send and receive zipped attachments, as long as they meet three conditions:

  1. They don't contain executable files.
  2. They are less than the maximum attachment size.
  3. They are not encrypted or password-protected AND don't contain other zipped files. If the attachment is encrypted and does not contain another zipped attachment, then it can be sent and received.

Since I was sending an entire C# application that I had been working on (I just zipped up the parent folder), the bin directory had the compiled exe in it and Gmail picked up on it and rejected the attachment.

I probably could have just removed the exe from the zip file but I tried sending as a winrar (.rar) attachment and everything worked fine. Just an FYI for anyone out there who tries the same thing but runs into the vague NDR message of "552 5.7.0 review our attachment guidelines".

 

4 Comments

  • I am trying to send a zip file that contains executable files and I always geting them back undelivered via Hotmail. Is there an email server that permits this? Help would be greatly appreciated..

  • The project folder had one exe file which was generated at run time when you compiled it.......that is why it is unable to send it........

  • had same problem
    couldn't send a rar file so i just renamed the file to .pdf exension and it bypassed the gmail protection :)

  • If I send the email to myself using gmail, I rename the .zip archive as .jpg or some other extension and when I receive them, I rename them back to .zip.

    Regards,
    Nick

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