Secure file sharing
Secure file sharing with controls you can see
Share a document as a link you stay in charge of. Lock it with a password, give it an end date, keep it view-only, delete it whenever you like, and know when it was opened.
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File uploaded. Enter your email to get your link.
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Free: every feature on 3 links, including who opened it and time on each page.
Opening it from here does not count as an open.
See when it is seenYour private stats page. Keep it to yourself: anyone with it can see the stats.Both links are in your email too. Upgrade to Pro.
The controls on every link
Secure document sharing comes down to two questions: who can open the file, and for how long. These are the settings FileSeen applies to a link today, all from the link's private stats page.
| Control | What it does | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Password | Visitors must enter the password before the file opens. You can change or remove it later. | Free |
| Expiry date | The link stops working after 1, 7 or 30 days. After that it shows a page saying the link has expired. | Free |
| View-only | Documents open in the browser with no download button, and direct download requests are refused. On from the start for documents. | Free |
| Delete | Removes the file and the link for good. Anyone who opens it afterwards sees that it is not available. | Free |
| Turn off | Stops the link opening for anyone without deleting it. Turn it on again any time. | Free |
| Open emails | An email every time someone opens the link. | Free |
| Every-open email | An email each time the link is opened. | Free |
| Who opened it | Readers confirm their email before the file opens, so you know who read it. | Free |
| Email watermark | The reader's confirmed email and the date are drawn onto every page of a PDF, so a screenshot or printout shows who it came from. | Free |
| Consent box | The reader must tick a line you write, such as a confidentiality promise, before the file opens. | Free |
All of these work on the free plan, for 3 links. Pro is $12 a month or $99 a year for unlimited links. Upgrade to Pro
A simple data room: many files in one link
One link can hold up to 400 files: a deck, a financial model, contracts and photos in one place. The reader sees them as a list, as thumbnails or as a slideshow, and opens each file in the browser.
- One password, one email check and one expiry date cover the whole set.
- PDFs in the set carry the reader's email watermark when it is turned on.
- Add or replace files later and keep the same link, so nobody needs a new address.
Opens and reading time are shown for each file, with the time on every page of each PDF and which files each visitor opened. An allow list can limit the link to named emails or a whole company domain. What it is not: there are no folders and no per-file permissions. For a deal room with folders, audit logs and signatures, a dedicated data-room product is the better fit.
How to share a file securely
Lock the link before you send it
Settings apply to the link, so you can tighten them before anyone has the address.
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Step 1
Upload the file
Drop the document above and confirm your email with the 6-digit code.
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Step 2
Set the controls
Open the private stats page and add a password, an expiry date, or both. Documents start view-only.
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Step 3
Send the link
Share the link and the password separately, for example the link by email and the password by phone.
What these controls do not do
Being clear about the limits is part of keeping a file safe:
- A link is named after its file, so it is not secret by itself. For anything sensitive, add a password: long and unique, as the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommends.
- View-only removes the download button and refuses direct download requests, but anyone who can read the page can still take a screenshot or a photo of the screen. The email watermark means any such copy shows whose it was.
- Anyone you give the link and password to can pass them on. An expiry date limits how long that matters.
How files are stored and sent
Every link is served over HTTPS, and stored files are encrypted at rest. Your stats page has its own long private address, separate from the share link, and it is the only way into the link's settings.
Know when the file is opened
Part of sharing securely is knowing what happened next. If a link is opened from a country you did not expect, you can delete it at once.
Every link comes with a private stats page. It shows how many times the file was opened, which countries the opens came from, where the visitors arrived from, how many downloads there were and, for documents, the total reading time. You also get an email every time the link is opened, or one daily summary if you prefer. See what the stats page tracks.
Your own visits do not count: the link FileSeen gives you to check the file is marked as a preview, so it never shows up as an open.
FAQ
Secure file sharing questions
What is the most secure way to share a document?
Send it as a link you control rather than an attachment: add a password, set an expiry date, keep it view-only, and send the password through a different channel from the link.
What are the risks of file sharing?
The main ones are sending to the wrong person, a file being forwarded beyond the people you meant, links or attachments that stay available forever, and malware hidden in files you receive. A password, an expiry date, view-only access and an alert when the file is opened reduce the first three.
Can I password-protect a file for free?
Yes. Passwords, expiry dates, view-only and deleting a link are all part of the free plan.
Can I stop someone downloading my file?
Yes. Documents are view-only by default, so the reader sees the pages in the browser without a download button. It cannot stop screenshots.
What happens when a link expires?
It stops opening the file and shows a page saying the link has expired. The stored file is removed within the hour.
Will I know if someone opens the file?
Yes. The free plan emails you every time the link is opened, and the stats page shows every open with its country.
Can I see exactly who opened it?
Yes: readers give their email before the file opens, and can be asked to confirm it with a code. This is on the free plan.
Comparing document sharing tools
If you are weighing FileSeen against a larger data-room product, the side-by-side data-room comparison sets out prices, what each plan includes and where each one is the better fit.
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