What is a share link?
A share link is a private link that gives someone a file, or a product's files and links, without an order. Alva Digital Downloads creates it on your store's own domain. You choose when it expires and how many times each item can be downloaded, and you can revoke it whenever you like.
There is no checkout, no discount code and no email from Alva. You copy the link and send it yourself, by email, chat or any other channel. The person who opens it sees a page with your store's name and a button for each item.
When should you share a file without an order?
Share a link when someone should get your product without buying it: a reviewer, a collaborator, a customer you are helping, or an audience you give a free sample to. A link does the job of a 100% discount code or a manual order without creating either, and the Share links page shows how often each link was used.
- Review and press copies. Send an ebook, an album or a template pack to a reviewer, with a short expiry and a low limit.
- Customer service. Replace a file for someone who bought it somewhere else, or send a goodwill extra, through a link only that customer can use.
- Collaborators and partners. Give a co-author, an affiliate or a team member the files they need, without creating an order for each of them.
- Free samples. Share a sample pack or a first chapter with your newsletter through one link, with a limit high enough for your audience.
How to create a share link in Alva Digital Downloads
Alva Digital Downloads creates share links in the Alva admin, and each one takes about a minute. You pick what to share, set an expiry and a download limit, choose a recipient if you want one, and copy the link. The steps below follow the Create share link dialog from top to bottom.
1. Choose a file or a product
Open a file's page or a product's page in the Alva admin and click Create share link in its Share links card. You can also click Share links on the Files tab of Assets to see every link you made, then click Create share link and search for a file or a product.
2. Set when the link expires
Choose In 1 day, In 7 days, In 30 days or In 90 days, or On a date you choose, up to 365 days ahead. Times are in your store's time zone. Once the link expires, its page tells the visitor to ask you for a new one. For how expiry works on ordinary purchases, see Shopify download link expiry.
3. Set the downloads per item
Downloads per item is how many times each file, the archive and each external link can be used through the link, by everyone who opens it together. It goes from 1 to 10,000 and starts at 5. A product link also stops after 50,000 downloads in total.
4. Add an IP limit or a label
Limit IP addresses is optional and caps how many networks or devices can use the link, from 1 to 100. It is best effort, not a security control: one person can count as more than one address, for example on Wi-Fi and then on mobile data. A Label helps you find the link later, and only you see it.
5. Choose a recipient, or leave it open
Leave Recipient empty and anyone with the link can use it. Or search your customers by name or email and pick one, and the link works only for them. If the person isn't a customer yet, click New customer to create one without leaving the dialog.
The first time you create a customer this way, Shopify asks you to give the app permission to manage your customers. Customers created here aren't subscribed to marketing.
6. Copy the link and send it
Click Create link, then copy the link and send it to whoever should have it. Alva doesn't email it for you. The dialog also tells you how many items the link shares, and how many were left out and why, for example a protected PDF or an expired external link.
You can't change a link's expiry or limits after you create it. To change them, revoke the link and create a new one.
File links and product links: what each one shares
A file link shares exactly one file. A product link shares what the product delivers in Alva Digital Downloads: its files, the files in its packs and its external links. When the product is delivered as a ZIP and its archive is up to date, the page offers one Download all files button in place of a button per file.
A product link follows the product, so a file you add to the product later is shared too. If you switch the product off in Alva, its links pause until you switch it back on. Some content never goes through a share link:
- License keys. A share link never includes them.
- Protected PDFs. A PDF that a product protects with a password is left out. A PDF that is only watermarked is sent as the original file, without a watermark. Buyers who purchase the product still get their own stamped copy: see Shopify PDF watermarking.
- Unreleased pre-orders. A file or product that is part of a pre-order that hasn't been released can't be shared until the release, and a product link leaves such files out.
- Personalized products. Made-to-order products can't be shared.
- Installers and scripts. Files such as
.msi,.dmg,.apkor.shcan only be shared with a specific customer. - Some external links. Links that have expired or don't use https are left out.
Links for one customer vs anyone with the link
A share link in Alva Digital Downloads is either for one customer or for anyone who has it. A link for a customer works only when that person is logged in to your store with the same account. A link without a recipient works for anyone, so treat it like the file itself and share it with care.
Someone who opens a customer's link while logged out sees Log in to download and a button to log in. Someone logged in with a different account sees Shared with a different account and a link to log out. If your store hides its login links or uses classic customer accounts, the dialog warns you that the recipient may need help to log in.
The 72-hour wait for public links on new stores
To protect every store's downloads, links without a recipient are available 72 hours after you install Alva Digital Downloads. Links for a specific customer work straight away. Until then, the Share links page shows the date public links unlock. To have your store reviewed sooner, email admin@alvaapps.com.
What the person you share with sees
The link opens a page on your store's domain, styled like your download page, that says who shared it, lists each item with its size and how many uses are left, and shows when the link expires. Files have a Download button, external links an Open button, and stream-only files a Play or Read button.
Opening the page doesn't use anything up. A download, a play or an opened link counts only when the person clicks its button. When an item has been used as many times as the link allows, the page says its limit was reached.
Stream-only files play in the browser
If a file is set to Stream only on one of its products, the share page plays it in the browser instead of offering a download. Videos and audio play in a player on the page, and PDFs open in a page-by-page reader. Each play uses one of that file's downloads. A file set to Stream and download is shared as a normal download. See Stream-only mode.
How to revoke a share link
Open the Share links page, find the link and click Revoke. The link stops working straight away and can't be turned back on. Revoking works on every plan, even after a downgrade, so you can always shut down a link you made. Deleting a file revokes its share links too.
A file download or an open player keeps working until its file URL expires, which takes between 1 and 24 hours depending on the file's size. An external link someone already opened can't be taken back, because they now have its address. The list shows each link's status, recipient, downloads and expiry, and Check tells you whether a link still works and how many items it shares.
Which Alva plans include share links?
Creating share links is included on every paid Alva Digital Downloads plan; the Free plan doesn't include it. If a store moves to Free, the links it already made keep working until they expire, and the store can still see and revoke them.
On the Free plan, stream-only files in those links become normal downloads, and PDFs that a product protects are sent as the original file, because streaming and PDF protection both need a paid plan. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.
Good to know before you share
Share links in Alva Digital Downloads are for handing out a product on purpose, not for replacing orders. A few store-wide limits keep them safe, a share link never creates an order, and it opens through your online store. Check these points before you send your first public link.
- Limits per store. Up to 500 active share links at a time, and up to 100 new links in any hour.
- No order and no email. A share link creates no order in Shopify, and Alva sends no email for it.
- Online Store channel. The link opens through your online store, so your store needs the Online Store sales channel.
- Automation and API. Shopify Flow gets a Share link downloaded trigger, and the external API creates, lists and revokes links through
/share-linksendpoints.
The full setup, with every setting and message, is in the help article Share a file or product without an order.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Create a share link for the file or its product in Alva Digital Downloads, choose when it expires and how many times each item can be downloaded, then copy the link and send it yourself. No order, checkout or discount code is needed, and you can revoke the link at any time.
Only if you choose a recipient. A link for a specific customer works only when they are logged in to your store with that account, and someone logged in with a different account is refused. A link without a recipient works for anyone who has it.
To protect every store's downloads, links without a recipient are available 72 hours after you install Alva Digital Downloads. Links for a specific customer work straight away. To have your store reviewed sooner, email admin@alvaapps.com.
You set one limit per item, from 1 to 10,000, and it starts at 5. Each file, the archive and each external link can be used that many times through the link, by everyone who opens it together. A product link also stops after 50,000 downloads in total, and each play of a stream-only file uses one download.
The link stops working straight away and can't be turned back on, so create a new one if you need it again. A file download that had already started keeps working until its file URL expires, after 1 to 24 hours depending on the file's size, and an external link someone already opened can't be taken back. Revoking works on every plan.
No. A share link never includes license keys. PDF watermarking doesn't apply to share links, so a PDF that is only watermarked is sent as the original file, and a PDF that a product protects with a password is left out.