An Inbox lets people submit files without becoming Files.com users or receiving permission to browse the destination folder. It is a continuing intake point, so its web page and inbound email address need access controls suited to the submissions you intend to accept.

Web uploads and email uploads use different checks. A registration requirement on the web page does not authenticate email, and an email sender restriction does not restrict the separate web upload path.

Uploader Access and Submission Privacy

Inbox visitors can upload files but cannot browse other submissions. Their page shows their own uploads during the active session, rather than a continuing file listing available on later visits. Files.com users with the appropriate folder permissions can access the stored submissions.

Upload confirmations and web receipt emails use the filenames the visitor submitted. They do not disclose the stored name assigned after a conflict or automatic rename, or the destination's stored Site path. Users of your Site see the stored filenames.

Use an Inbox for collection without exposing existing contents. A Share Link is appropriate when visitors also need to see selected files. An attached Inbox lets one delivery URL provide clean source documents and a separate submission folder.

Web Access and Registration

An Inbox URL can be distributed directly or published on a website. Password protection adds a shared secret.

Registration and a custom form collect information about the submission, but entered or pre-filled details do not by themselves verify an individual's identity.

Personalized invitations associate the browser registration with the invited address. The first use establishes browser-specific access; opening a used invitation in a different browser requires a replacement sent to the original mailbox. An unused invitation can still be forwarded before its first use.

A clickwrap records acceptance of the configured agreement. It does not replace authentication or independently verify the person completing the form. Web Inbox settings explain registration, invitations, password protection, and clickwrap configuration.

Email Authentication and Sender Restrictions

When email uploads are enabled, anyone who knows the Inbox's generated address can submit attachments unless sender restrictions apply. The site's inbound email authentication checks SPF, DKIM, and DMARC results for the message's From domain and applies virus and spam checks before the sender restriction is evaluated.

The Inbox's sender list selects the permitted addresses or domains. Domain authentication and the sender list work together: matching a From address alone does not establish that the sender is authorized to use it. Enable both when only approved senders should submit.

Email cannot complete the Inbox's web password challenge or registration form. Inboxes therefore cannot require those web checks while accepting email uploads. For an email-only process, disable web uploads so every submission uses the intended email checks.

Turning off email uploads or enabling registration can restore web access under the Inbox's other controls. Review both channels when changing the configuration. Email upload settings explains the interactions.

Destination and Overwrite Behavior

Folder Settings apply to received files, including filename restrictions, automatic organization, and configured processing. Requested Upload Slots organize web submissions into named subfolders; a slot being marked complete does not establish that the submitted document contains the required information.

Inbox email attachments are stored as single filenames. Separator characters in attachment names are converted rather than interpreted as new folder levels. Destination templates and folder organization settings separately determine where submissions are stored.

Email uploads use automatic submission subfolders by default. If that separation is disabled, repeated names in the same destination follow the Site's overwrite behavior and can replace earlier submissions when overwrites are allowed. This differs from upload-only Share Links, which rename conflicting uploads to preserve both files.

Review email overwrite behavior and the destination's folder settings before treating submissions as permanent records.

Receipts, Records, and Ending Intake

An upload receipt confirms that files were stored. It does not establish that a receiving business application accepted them or that later processing succeeded. Web and email receipts are configured separately.

Inbox records and Inbound Email Logs provide evidence of received submissions and processing results. Registration information and claimed sender details need to be interpreted according to the checks enabled for that channel.

An Inbox remains an intake point until its access is closed. When the process ends, review its web page, inbound email address, associated Share Links, and downstream workflows. Closing intake does not remove files already stored or undo work already performed on them.