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How to share a file with a Verified link or an Open link

A share link lets people read a document in Embershot's secure viewer without an Embershot password. There are two kinds:

  • Verified link: whoever opens the link enters their email address and the 6-digit code Embershot emails them. They can open only this file, and its pages are watermarked with their email address. They appear in the file's viewer list like anyone you share with.
  • Open link: whoever opens the link clicks 'View File'. No email and no sign-in. Each viewer's screen is watermarked with an ID for their device, and Embershot keeps a record of every view (device ID, IP address and time), so a screenshot can be traced back to the view it came from.

Who can create links: Pro accounts, and Project Admins with Lite accounts in a paid project. Enterprise organizations have links turned off unless their organization asks for them; contact support@embershot.com.

Notes: A link is for one document at a time. Videos and audio cannot be shared with a link yet.

Step 1: Click 'Share' on the file.

Step 2: In 'Who can open this file?', choose:

  • Anyone with the link who verifies their email for a Verified link, or
  • Anyone with the link for an Open link.

'Specific people' is the usual share by email and works as before. For a link you do not enter anyone's email: you send the link yourself.

Step 3: Choose when the link expires, or check 'Never Expire' when it is offered.

Step 4: Click the 'Create Link' button. The link is copied to your clipboard. If your browser does not allow it, click 'Copy Link'.

Each file can have one Verified link and one Open link. To copy a link you already made, choose the same option again and click 'Copy Link' (the expiry you see is applied to the link).

You can also copy a link from the file's tile: click the link icon next to 'Share'. If the file has more than one link (a Verified link, an Open link, or a 'Specific people' link), the icon opens a menu naming each one.

What viewers can and cannot do​

Viewers read the file in the secure viewer, on a computer or a phone's web browser. They cannot download, print or share it onward, and annotations are turned off.

  • Screenshots on a Verified link: a detected screenshot removes that viewer's access, the same as any other share.
  • Screenshots on an Open link: a detected screenshot ends that viewer's view. The link keeps working.

See who opened it​

Open the file's viewer list. At the top you will see 'Open link enabled' with the number of views, and/or 'Verified link enabled' with the number of people who have access through it. People who opened a Verified link are listed by email like your other viewers, with a teal link icon under Permissions.

An Open link counts one view each time someone opens it, however many pages they read.

In the file's viewer list, click 'Revoke' next to 'Open link enabled' or 'Verified link enabled'. The link stops working, and anyone reading the file from it is closed out within about a minute.

To remove one person who opened a Verified link, click the teal link icon on their row and choose 'Revoke Verified Link'. The link keeps working for everyone else, and that person cannot use it again.

See 'How to open a Verified link or an Open link' for what your viewers see.