The Internet has many nicknames. I’m sure you’re familiar with the “World Wide Web” or the short and sweet, “The Net”, and probably one that I use often: “The Information Superhighway.” The Internet is a broad expanse like a superhighway, after all. To illustrate this, I’ll tell you a little story about something that happened about a dozen years ago. Around midnight, my aunt yelled to me that there was a bat flying around the living room. I put on a baseball cap and grabbed a soft-sided cooler thinking I’d catch it as it flew by. Of course, the bat clung to the exposed beam in the living room and wouldn’t budge. Not knowing what to do, my aunt suggested that I search the Internet for “bat in the house” and see what would pop up. I scoffed at her, not expecting anything to come up, but since you really can find just about anything online, tons of results appeared. Google “bat in the house” someday and you’ll see what I mean. It’s good to have a plan should it ever happen to you! What was the point of that story? Oh yeah, I remember. “The Information Superhighway” is true, but it’s more than that. You see, the Internet is really a two-way street. You can download information from other people, or you can upload your own information to intended recipients. Today, we’ll show you how to upload files should you ever need to send a document to an insurance company, or share pictures to be printed at a store. The possibilities are endless.
Downloading and uploading can be very difficult concepts for computer users to grasp. I’ll try to clear this up once and for all. In a very non-scientific definition, the act of downloading is taking information from the Internet. If you save a picture to your computer that you’ve found on the Internet, you’ve downloaded that picture. If you purchase a digital version of an album from Amazon, you’ll download that music to your device. A computer that is connected to the Internet has delivered that photo and that album to the Internet, so your computer which is also connected to the Internet can retrieve it. Therefore, uploading is taking a file that is on your computer and sending it to the Internet. When you’re attaching a picture of your dog in an e-mail to your granddaughter in Maine, you’re uploading the picture. Downloading is taking from the Internet, while uploading is sending to it. One more thing to keep in mind about uploading vs. downloading: when Internet Service Providers (ISPs) boast about fast Internet speeds, they’re (usually) touting download speeds. Most of the time, download speeds will run circles around upload speeds. For instance, here at the home office, my download speed is 66 megabytes per second (Mbps) while my upload speed is only 5 Mbps. Get yourself a comfortable seat if you have to upload a large file!
Now that we’ve established what uploading is, let’s talk about how to actually do it. Step one is to make sure you actually have the desired file on your device. If you’re planning on uploading a file that’s on your phone, but you wish to perform the upload from your computer, e-mail the file to yourself, then save the file to your computer in a place that you’ll be able to find it. Common places to save files are the Desktop, or appropriate library (Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos). The steps to upload the file are always the same, but you might see different wording depending on the website or service. Typically, you’ll click “Browse” or “Add Files” and a window will open on your screen. This window will look very similar to the “Computer” or “File Explorer” app on your computer. Use the list on the left side of the window to click on the appropriate name that will open the folder that contains the desired file on your computer. When you find the file or files you’re looking for, click to select it, then click “Open” or “Upload”. A progress bar will display the time remaining until your upload is completed. Congratulations, you’ve uploaded your file!
Uploading files probably isn’t something you’ll do every day, but it is an important skill to have. We can’t always be takers, after all. Onward and upward (upload)!