How to share a file with a password
Drop the file into the box above, up to 150MB, then turn on a password from the link's settings, before sending it or any time after. It costs nothing, works on any file type, and the next person who opens the link sees a password prompt first, not the document.
What secure document sharing means here
Secure document sharing means sending a file as a controlled link rather than an attachment: you decide who can open it, for how long, and whether they can download it, and you keep a record of every time it was opened.
That second half is the part most tools leave out. A password stops the wrong person opening a document. It does not tell you that the right person opened it four times and forwarded it. Both matter when the document is a contract, a valuation or a board paper.
The controls, and what each one is actually good for
- Password. Free. Use it when the link will travel by email or chat, where a forwarded message is the likeliest leak. It also blocks embedding: a page that tries to hotlink the file as an image or an iframe gets the password prompt, not the bytes.
- Expiry date. Free. The link stops opening after the date you set. This is the control people underuse: most documents only need to be readable for a week.
- View-only. Free. Serves the document in the browser with no download button. A new PDF or Office link already opens this way by default, before anyone touches a setting; images, zips and web pages are unaffected, because for those the file itself is the point.
- Require an email to view. Pro. The viewer identifies themselves before the document opens, so opens are tied to a person rather than a browser.
- HTTPS on every link, always.
⚠️ View-only is friction, not DRM. Anyone who can read a document on screen can photograph it. It stops casual forwarding and re-uploading; it does not make a file uncopyable, and no product that shows you a document can.
What you can see afterwards
- Every open, with the time and country. Free.
- Downloads, counted separately from opens. Free.
- Total reading time. Free.
- Who opened it, by name, once the email gate is on. Pro.
- Per-page reading time for PDFs. Pro.
- An email the moment it is opened. Pro.
How to share a document securely
- Drop the file into the box above. No sign-up: the first upload asks for a one-time code sent to the email address typed in, which keeps the link from being used to spam someone else's inbox. A signed-in account skips that step after the first time.
- Add a password, an expiry date, or view-only, whichever the document needs.
- Send the link instead of the file.
- Open the link's analytics page to see who opened it and when.
How to make a link that expires
Pick a tool that lets a shared link stop working on a date, then set that date before sending. Most big storage services can do it, but usually only on a paid or work plan:
- Google Drive. Expiration is "only available for eligible work or school accounts" and is added per person in the share box (Google Drive Help). It applies to viewers, commenters and editors on a file (Google Workspace).
- Dropbox. The plans that can set an expiration date on a shared link are Professional, Essentials, Standard, Advanced, Business, Business Plus and Enterprise (Dropbox Help). The free Basic plan is not on that list.
- OneDrive. Setting an expiration date is "only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers" (Microsoft Support).
On Snapy.host it is free. Drop the file into the box above, open the link's settings, and choose 1, 7 or 30 days. After that the link shows an expired page instead of the file. An expired link no longer counts as the free plan's one live link, so a new one can go out straight away. An expiring link is also never offered to search engines.
What a password actually blocks
A password checks against a cookie set when the right password is typed once, so it applies the same way no matter how the link is requested, not only to a browser tab:
| Who or what requests the link | What a password-protected link shows them |
|---|---|
| Someone opening it for the first time | the password prompt |
| The same person, within the next 24 hours (the unlock cookie is still set) | the document, no prompt |
An <img> tag or an iframe trying to embed the file elsewhere |
the password prompt, not the file |
| A chat app's preview bot building a link card | the password prompt, so no preview renders |
That is also why a password is the stronger choice over view-only alone for anything that must not leak through an embed: view-only stops a download button, a password stops the file being served to begin with.
When to use which control
| Situation | What to turn on |
|---|---|
| Contract out for signature | Password, and open alerts so you know when to chase |
| Draft under review | Expiry date, so old versions stop circulating |
| Pricing or valuation | View-only, plus the email gate if you need names |
| Board or investor material | Password, expiry, and view-only together |
| A proposal or quote you want read | Nothing locked, so use document tracking to see the opens |
A locked document is harder to read, and a document nobody reads cannot win anything. For anything you want opened, share it openly and watch what happens instead.
Related
- Document tracking: the full record of what happened to a file, including the client-facing use case
- Share a PDF as a link: the quickest way to start
- Send a password safely: one-time links that delete themselves