Fall/Winter 2006  —  75North Carolina Libraries

Pando

Ever tried to send large attachments to your e-mail, only to be rejected by your mail service? These days large music, video 
and text files can often exceed allowable system transmission parameters. Pando www.pando.com is an example of a new type of 

service that allows you to share these large files with others. The current beta version of Pando is limited to 1GB file transfer per 

email. Pando users are required to download a desktop application that runs both on Windows XP and Apple OSX operating 

systems.

Pando is easier to use than other file sharing web sites such as Myspace and Flickr and it has the added feature of being more 

private. Your encrypted uploaded files are stored on the Pando’s servers for fourteen days. During this period the person 

to whom you sent the email has the opportunity to download the desktop application and view the files just as if you had 

enclosed them in your emails. After the fourteen days you will need to re-send the files to have them accessed. Other file sharing 

systems usually require you to manually delete older uploads. The person receiving the files gets regular email with the added 

information about the Pando system. Emails from Pando look like this:

 You’ll need Pando to open this attachment. Get Pando free here. 

JapaneseArt1.tif 
From: Ralph Scott 
Total size: 7.9MB 
Expires: Aug. 18, 2006 (?) 

When you click on the email file attachment, Pando gives you the opportunity to download the image or music files. After 

the download is complete, you click on a green open button and the file opens on your desktop. The file is opened using 

the application that the file was written in. This will typically be an application like mp3, pdf, tiff, etc. Options with Pando 

enable you to specify your profile, storage location, and transfer protocols (for example a virus scanning package). When the 

person receiving the email does the download the actual file from your computer is transferred and encrypted end to end to 

the person’s computer. You can also right click any file on your computer and then click on the link: “Send with Pando” and 

Pando will send that file. Most of the files upload quickly with a 7.9 MB file taking typically only a couple of seconds. Large 

95 MB files will take a little longer, but they will make it! As mentioned earlier there is a 1 GB limit on Pando file transmission 

size. Pando is an easy solution to an email problem that has plagued people sharing large computer files since the dawn of the 

Internet.

C

C
ired to the

orld by Ralph Lee Scott