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Share Link Notifications

Share Links let you share files with external contacts without configuring user credentials for those contacts. These exchanges are often one-off or ad hoc transfers that don't occur on a scheduled cadence, so manual effort is required to keep track of the sharing process.

Share Link Notifications notify your users of significant points in the sharing workflow: when recipients are invited to a Share Link, when the invitation is accepted by the recipient completing their registration, and when visitors upload to a Share Link that permits uploads. Link Invitation Notifications provide a record of when paths were shared with individual contacts. Registration Notifications alert you when a Share Link is accessed by an external contact. Link Upload Notifications are sent when files are uploaded to a Share Link by a recipient.

Share Link Notifications are one of several Files.com mechanisms for tracking activity. If you're not sure Share Link Notifications are the right fit, see Share Link Notifications vs. Folder Notifications below.

Site-Wide Sharing Settings for Notifications

Site-wide sharing settings affect the behavior of all Share Links within the site, so only Site Administrators can configure them.

Three site-wide sharing settings determine whether Share Link Notifications are generated. The Link invitation notifications setting determines whether the Share Link owner receives an email listing the recipients invited to a Share Link. The Link registration notifications setting controls whether email notifications can be generated for users when visitors access a Share Link. The Email notifications for uploads setting controls email notifications to users when visitors upload to a Share Link.

Notify Users When Recipients Are Invited

Link invitation notifications are emails listing all of the invited recipients for a Share Link and which paths were shared in the link. The notification is sent to the Share Link owner. Even after a Share Link has been removed from your site, the original email provides an audit trail proving that files were previously shared.

When the site-wide Link invitations notifications setting is enabled, the user who created each Share Link receives an email each time a recipient is invited to a Share Link. The setting applies to all Share Links in the site, and only the link owner is notified about invitations to that link.

When the site-wide Link invitations notifications setting is disabled, the email is not generated when recipients are invited.

Notify Users When Registration is Recorded

Link registration notifications are emails generated for a user when a web visitor accesses a Share Link's URL for the very first time. The notification email includes any registration information collected from the visit.

Link registration notifications are particularly helpful when you embed a Share Link on another web page, because visitors access embedded Share Links without receiving an email invitation. Unless you've enabled registrations, you won't know exactly who accessed the embedded link or how many different people are accessing it.

Never Send Notifications for Registration

When the site-wide Link registration notifications setting is set to Never send notifications, users cannot enable registration notifications for any Share Links.

Always Send Notifications for Registration

When the site-wide Link registration notifications setting is set to Always send notifications, the user who created each Share Link automatically has a notification created to alert them when a visitor registers for their link. Additional registration notifications can be added for other users within a Share Link's settings.

When the Link registration notifications setting is set to Can be set per Share Link, users decide whether to add registration notifications by changing a Share Link's settings.

Only folder admins and Site Administrators can use this feature in the web interface to create notifications for other users, because admin-level access is required to list the user IDs in your site.

Notify Users When Files are Uploaded

A Share Link notification triggered by uploads includes a list of the files uploaded by the visitor and any registration information collected from them. The email is generated after the visitor leaves the Share Link page, 5 minutes after their upload finishes, or 1 hour after the page is opened (if they did not upload), whichever comes first.

Never Send Upload Notifications

When the site-wide Email notifications for uploads setting is set to Never send notifications, users cannot enable upload notifications for any Share Links.

Always Send Upload Notifications

When the site-wide Email notifications for uploads setting is set to Always send notifications, a notification is created for the Share Link owner to alert them when a visitor uploads to their link. Additional upload notifications can be added for other users within a Share Link's settings.

When the Email notifications for uploads setting is set to Can be set per Share Link, users decide whether to enable upload notifications in each Share Link's settings.

Only folder admins and Site Administrators can use this feature in the web interface to create notifications for other users, because admin-level access is required to list the user IDs in your site.

Notifications Are For Internal Users

Share Link Notification emails can only be sent to your account users, never to external contacts. If you have a use case that would require non-users to receive email notifications for a Share Link, contact us so we can learn more about your needs.

In addition to the notification emails sent to users, you can enable upload receipt emails for your visitors.

The most important difference between Share Link Notifications and folder-based Email Notifications is their intended use. Email Notifications alert users to significant events taking place within specific folders. Share Link Notifications track the workflow of human-centric sharing.

Folder-based Email Notifications are triggered by file actions and are best employed for monitoring automated processes. Email Notifications have numerous settings available to target them narrowly for specific file actions, specific file names, or specific people performing those actions.

Share Link Notifications track how a Share Link visitor has interacted with the link. They are sent when a new contact is invited, when a visitor completes the registration, and when a visitor uploads to a Share Link. Only activity from a Share Link visitor triggers Share Link Notifications, so the registration information for each visitor is included in the notification email.