View-only PDF
View-only PDF: let people read it, not keep it
Upload a PDF and share it as a view-only link. It opens in the browser with no download button and printing blanked, and you see when it is read. Here is exactly what that stops and what it does not.
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File uploaded. Enter your email to get your link.
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Sent to . It expires in 10 minutes.
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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.
How to make a PDF view only
A view-only PDF link in three steps
There is no setting to find: every PDF link starts view-only.
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Step 1
Upload the PDF
Drop the file above. Anything up to 95 MB.
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Step 2
Confirm your email
Enter the 6-digit code FileSeen sends you.
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Step 3
Share the link
Send it by email or chat. Downloads stay off unless you switch them on.
What view-only does
- No download button. The reader gets a clean viewer in the browser, page by page, with zoom and full screen, but nothing to save the file with.
- The file cannot be fetched on its own. Asking the link for the raw PDF, for example by adding
?raw=1to the address, returns the viewer, not the file. - Printing is blanked. Pressing Ctrl+P prints a short note saying the document is view-only instead of the pages.
- The right-click menu is off on the pages, so there is no quick "Save as".
What view-only does not do
Nothing shown on a screen can be made impossible to copy, and it is better to know the limits before you send something sensitive:
- A screenshot or a photo of the screen still works.
- The PDF has to reach the reader's browser to be displayed, so a technically skilled person can still save it with the browser's developer tools.
- Text can be read and retyped, and whether it can be selected depends on the PDF itself.
What actually protects a document is knowing who opened it. Readers can confirm their email with a one-time code before the file opens, and each page carries their email and the date as a watermark, so a leaked screenshot points back to one person.
View-only link or a locked PDF file?
A PDF file can carry its own restrictions: a permissions password that asks PDF readers not to print or copy. Those restrictions travel with the file, but they rely on the reader's software honouring them, and many tools ignore them. Once the file is sent, you cannot change or withdraw them.
A view-only link works the other way round. The file stays with FileSeen and the reader only ever gets the viewer. You can switch downloads on later, add a password, set an expiry date or delete the link, and the change applies to everyone at once. To lock the file itself as well, use the free PDF password tool first, in your browser.
FAQ
View-only PDF questions
How do I make a PDF view only?
Upload it here and share the link. PDF links on FileSeen open view-only by default: no download button, printing blanked, and the file cannot be fetched on its own.
Can someone still download a view-only PDF?
Not with a button or a simple trick. A technically skilled person can still save what their browser receives, and anyone can take a screenshot, so for sensitive files add the email check and watermark.
Can I share a PDF so it cannot be printed?
Yes. On a view-only link, printing produces a note saying the document is view-only instead of the pages.
Can I allow downloads later?
Yes. Switch downloads on from the link's stats page and the download button appears for everyone.
Is a view-only PDF link free?
Yes. The free plan has every feature on 3 links, with view-only, password, expiry and open tracking included.
Will I know who viewed it?
Yes. You see every open, the country, the reading time, who it was from a confirmed email, and the time on each page, all on the free plan.
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