Inboxes

Inboxes are permanent locations that accept files from people who are not registered users on your site. Depending on how you've configured your inbox, counterparties can submit files in two ways: through a web page or by sending an email with attachments.

Inboxes are useful for accepting contest applications from the public, letting customers send digital assets for processing, collecting form submissions, and collecting files through email.

Inboxes can be customized with a registration form, and can also be emailed to specific recipients. When emailed through your site, the recipients receive a link to upload files. You can also communicate the inbox URL or inbound email address directly to your users, or publish either one on your public-facing website or intranet portal.

Customers use Inboxes to collect job application forms with custom demographic fields, pair downloadable documents with an upload point through a Share Link, accept timesheets and similar submissions over email from a defined set of contractors, and capture files emailed directly by scanners, multi-functional devices, and other equipment. See Inbox Use Cases for examples of each.

Comparing Inboxes to Related Features

Inboxes vs. User Accounts

Inboxes are intended for use cases where the user of the inbox would not be a regular user of your site. Each inbox exists on its own, and each inbox session is treated independently. As a result, visitors do not see other files in the Inbox, including files they uploaded in a previous session. If visitors will interact with files after uploading, create User accounts for those people instead.

Inboxes vs. Share Links

Inboxes are built to last; Share Links are meant to expire.

An Inbox acts like a permanent doorway into a folder. Once created by a site or folder administrator, that doorway stays open indefinitely, until an admin decides to close it. It doesn't reveal what's inside, but it allows people to add files. The main purpose of an Inbox is to collect files from others in a lasting way.

A Share Link, by contrast, is temporary by design. Its primary purpose is to share files with external contacts. Share Links remain active only for a limited time, ranging from days to months, depending on your site's policies. This makes them well suited to short-term collaboration or distribution, but not to ongoing collection.

Permanence shapes everything about how Inboxes work. An Inbox is always tied to one specific folder, and it can be listed right on your site's login page. People can email files directly into it. Share Links are more flexible but more fleeting. They allow access to multiple folders at once, offer a variety of actions to visitors, and are always accessed through the web.

When visitors use an Inbox, they can only upload. That is the entire purpose: a clean, consistent place where files come in. A Share Link is more open-ended because sometimes you want recipients to see or take files and sometimes just to contribute, but it is never designed to serve as a permanent dropbox.

When choosing between an Inbox and a Share Link, the question is permanence. An Inbox is a lasting intake point for your site. A Share Link is a temporary link that disappears when its purpose is served.