What is a download link expiry on Shopify?
A download link expiry is how long a customer keeps access to a purchased file after checkout. On Shopify, once that window closes the buyer can no longer fetch the file without a fresh link from the merchant. A shorter window tightens security; a longer one lets buyers return and re-download the same file months, or even years, later.
Most Shopify stores never think about this setting until a customer complains that a link stopped working, or until a file they meant to protect turns up somewhere it should not. Both problems trace back to the same decision: how long access should last.
Choosing that window deliberately, and per product, is what this guide is about. The point is not to find one perfect number — it is to give each kind of product the lifetime it actually needs.
Why a single seven-day cap wasn't enough
A fixed field capped at seven days forced every product into the same short mould. A store selling both a lifetime course and a throwaway welcome PDF had no way to say "this one forever, that one for an hour." Everything expired on the same tight schedule, whether that fit the product or not.
That mismatch is the reason the control changed. Sellers of lifetime-access products were fielding "my link expired" emails for files they had promised buyers could keep, while sellers of high-value assets had no way to shorten the window further. One cap could not serve both.
Setting download link expiry in Alva Digital Downloads
Alva Digital Downloads sets expiry with a value paired with a time unit — Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years — alongside an explicit Never expires option. The old control was a single minutes field capped at seven days; the picker now spans one minute to several years, or removes the limit entirely.
The setting is available to every shop on every plan, with no upgrade gate — it is part of every Alva plan, including the free tier. Existing stores keep the exact minutes-based value they already configured; nothing about an old setup changes until you touch it.
Because expiry is set per product, one store can run a two-hour window on a high-value template and open access on a lifetime course, side by side, without compromising on either.
Why the file URL is always short-lived, even when access never expires
The file URL that Alva Digital Downloads hands to a customer is always a short-lived signed link that stops working after about an hour, for security. The expiry setting is a separate layer: it controls how long the customer's download page stays open, not how long any single URL survives.
A one-hour signed URL and a "never expires" access window do not conflict. While the download page is open, it keeps minting a fresh one-hour link every time the customer clicks download — so short-lived URLs and long-lived access are two different things doing two different jobs.
So a buyer who returns a year after purchase to a never-expiring product loads their download page, clicks, and gets a brand-new working link — even though every individual link only ever lasts an hour. The short-lived URL protects the file in transit; the access window decides how long the customer can keep coming back for a new one.
Short expiry versus never expire: the real trade-off
Shorter expiry means tighter security. A link that dies quickly cannot be posted in a forum, passed around a group chat, and re-downloaded by strangers for weeks. Longer or never-expiring access means a better customer experience: buyers of lifetime products can fetch their file whenever they need it, without opening a support ticket.
There is no single correct value. The right window depends on how valuable the file is, how likely it is to be shared, and what you promised the buyer at checkout. Three rules of thumb cover almost every store.
Short window: high-value or piracy-sensitive files
If a file is expensive, easily resold, or a frequent piracy target — premium presets, design bundles, paid research — a short window of a few hours to a couple of days limits how long any leaked link stays alive. Pair it with a download cap and a stray link is worth very little to anyone but the original buyer.
Long or never: lifetime, course and membership products
Products sold on a promise of ongoing or lifetime access — online courses, membership resources, software with a "download anytime" pledge — should use a long window or Never expires. These buyers expect to come back, and forcing them to email you for a new link every time is a support burden you created for yourself.
A sensible middle: most everyday products
For the typical one-off download — an ebook, a printable, a single track — a few days to a few weeks is a comfortable default. It is long enough that a buyer who gets distracted at checkout can still grab the file later, and short enough that the link is not circulating indefinitely.
What happens when a download link expires
When an access window closes, the customer's download page stops issuing new links and shows that access has ended, rather than serving the file. Nothing is deleted — the file still lives in your store and the order is untouched — but the buyer now needs a fresh link from you to reach it again.
If a genuine customer reaches you after their window has closed, you can resend the delivery email to reopen access, or raise the expiry setting so future links last longer. Expiry limits reach; it never erases a purchase or the file behind it.
Pair expiry with per-customer download limits
Expiry answers "how long"; per-customer download limits answer "how many times". Used together they give much tighter control than either alone: a two-day window with a three-download cap lets a genuine buyer re-grab a file across devices while shutting the door on mass redistribution.
Both controls live in the same place and are documented in the help article on download expiry and per-customer download limits. If your main worry is leaked files rather than link lifetime, the companion guide on protecting digital files from piracy and fraud covers the IP checks and AI fraud scoring that stack on top of expiry.
Links and license keys don't expire the same way
Not every product behaves like a downloadable file. Link-only products — where you sell access to a URL rather than a file — and license-key-only products keep their delivery pages reachable instead of closing on a download-key timer. Their value is the destination or the key itself, not a file that needs a fresh signed URL each time.
If most of what you sell is access rather than files, the guide on link selling — selling access to any URL as a digital product explains how those products are delivered and tracked, and why their expiry behaviour differs from a downloadable file's.
How to set or change your download expiry
Changing the window takes seconds. In the Alva Digital Downloads admin, open a product's download settings, find the expiry control, enter a value, choose a unit — or select Never expires — and save. The new window applies to links issued from that point on.
Because the setting is per product, review your catalogue once and match each window to what the product actually is: tight for the files you most want to protect, open for the ones you promised buyers forever. The full step-by-step is in the download expiry help article.
Frequently asked questions
Download link lifetime is whatever you set it to. In Alva Digital Downloads you choose a value and a unit — Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years — or turn expiry off with Never expires. Existing stores keep the minutes-based setting they already had until they change it, so nothing about a current configuration shifts on its own.
Yes. Pick the Never expires option and the customer's download page stays open indefinitely, so buyers of lifetime-access products, courses and memberships can return and re-download years later without contacting you. The setting is available on every plan and is not gated behind an upgrade.
The two are different layers. The actual file URL is always a short-lived signed link that stops working after about an hour, for security. The expiry setting controls the download page, not that URL. While the page stays open it keeps issuing fresh one-hour links on demand, so a never-expiring access window and a one-hour URL work together.
Match the window to the product. High-value or piracy-sensitive files suit a short expiry that limits how long a link can circulate. Lifetime-access, course and membership products suit a long window or Never expires. For most everyday products, a few days to a few weeks balances security against letting buyers re-download when they need to.
No. Download link expiry, the Never expires option and per-customer download limits are available to every store on every plan, with no separate charge or upgrade gate. You can set a different expiry per product, so a single store can run tight windows on some files and open access on others.