Wire services and large newsrooms receive photos over FTP. Many editors, commissioning clients, and picture desks do not. They work from their email inbox. ZenTransfer's email delivery destination handles this case: when a file arrives, ZenTransfer sends a notification email with a traceable download link to the full-resolution file. The recipient clicks the link and downloads the file. The download is logged against your account.
How it works
Add an email address as a destination in the ZenTransfer dashboard. When a file is processed — whether from your camera's FTP or the desktop app — ZenTransfer sends that recipient an email containing a download link. The link points to the full-resolution file and is unique to that delivery event.
You can configure as many email destinations as you need. Each can be toggled on or off independently from your phone, exactly like FTP and cloud destinations.
What the recipient receives
The notification email contains: - The filename - A direct download link to the full-resolution file - Basic file information
The recipient does not need a ZenTransfer account. They click the link and download the file directly. There is no sign-in, no installation, and no app to open.
Traceable links and download logging
Each download link is unique to its delivery. When a recipient clicks the link and downloads the file, ZenTransfer logs the event: which file, which recipient, and when. This log is visible in your account.
For rights-managed and licensed work, this provides a basic delivery record: you can confirm that a specific file was sent to a specific recipient and when it was downloaded. That record does not depend on email threads being preserved or the recipient acknowledging receipt — it is logged automatically at the point of download.
Per-recipient control from your phone
Email destinations participate in the same toggle system as every other ZenTransfer destination. If you have a regular list of commissioning editors configured, you can enable the relevant ones for each assignment from your phone before the shoot starts and disable them afterwards.
A typical workflow for a freelance photographer:
- Standing configuration: three newsroom FTP servers (always enabled), personal Google Drive archive (always enabled)
- Assignment-specific: the commissioning editor's email (enabled when working that specific assignment, disabled otherwise)
You do not need to reconfigure anything. The editor's email is already set up — you just enable it when they are expecting files.
Use cases
Breaking news and spot news assignments — the picture desk editor monitoring their inbox gets a link the moment a frame comes through, without waiting for you to finish shooting and manually email a selection.
Freelance commissions — the commissioning client gets a download link for every image you submit, automatically, as each file is processed. No separate delivery step required.
International desks without FTP infrastructure — some regional newspapers and online publications do not operate an FTP ingest server. Email with a direct download link is the practical delivery method.
Editors who prefer links over attachments — full-resolution RAW or TIFF files are too large to send as email attachments. A download link is the only practical way to deliver large files by email, and ZenTransfer handles that automatically.
Combining email with other destinations
Email delivery works alongside all other ZenTransfer destinations. A single camera upload can simultaneously:
- Deliver the file to an FTP server
- Save a copy to Google Drive
- Email a download link to a commissioning editor
Configure once. Control active recipients per assignment from your phone.
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