What we shipped.

Show downloads remaining, and a contact button on limit pages

Two new options for stores that limit downloads. Open Settings, then Download page. See Customise the download page.

• Downloads remaining. Tick Show downloads remaining and the download page shows a line such as "Downloads remaining: 3 of 5" under the product title. The number drops as the customer downloads, and the line appears only when a download limit applies.
• Contact button. Enter an email address or a link starting with https:// in Contact button when a limit is reached. Customers who reach a download limit or device limit then see a button to contact your store on the download page's limit page. The messages editor links to the field.
• Plans. Both are on paid plans and off by default, and apply to the download page only. A store that moves to the Free plan can still turn both off.

Custom buyer messages, a current-rules summary and clearer plan locks

Rewrite the messages customers see when a download link has expired, a download or device limit is reached, or a link isn't valid. Open Settings, then the Downloads tab, and click Edit messages under Messages buyers see. Custom messages are on every paid plan. See Set download expiry and per-customer download limits.

• Every language. Write a default text and, if you like, a version per language, for the title and the message separately. A field left blank keeps the built-in text, translated into the customer's language. Placeholders fill in your store name, the download limit or the device limit.
• Every surface. The download-limit message also shows on the Thank you, Order status and customer account pages. Customers there who don't use English now see a translated limit message instead of an English one.
• Current rules. A summary at the top of the Downloads tab lists the rules in force: link expiry, the device and download limits, stream plays, the fraud check, EU consent, and how many products have a delivery delay, stream-only files or a scheduled pre-order launch.
• Plan locks. Every "Upgrade your plan" badge in Settings now links to the plans, and the Fraud Protection tab warns when a fraud check left on from a paid plan is still holding orders.
• Downgrades. Reset and removing a language work on every plan, so text saved on a paid plan can always be removed.

Share links: send a file or a product without an order

Give someone a file, or everything in a product, with no order behind it. Click Create share link in the Share links card of a file's or a product's page, choose an expiry and a download limit for each item, and copy the link: it opens a page on your store's own domain. Included on every paid plan. See Share a file or product without an order.

• File or product. A product link shares the product's files, the files in its packs and its external links, with one Download all files button when its ZIP archive is up to date. License keys are never included, personalized products can't be shared, and PDFs a product protects with a password are left out.
• Limits. An expiry in 1, 7, 30 or 90 days or on a date up to 365 days ahead, 1 to 10,000 downloads per item (each file, the archive and each external link), an optional limit of 1 to 100 IP addresses, and 50,000 downloads in total for a product link. Up to 500 active links per store.
• One customer or anyone. Choose a recipient, or create a new customer in the dialog, and the link works only when they're logged in to your store with that account. Without a recipient, anyone with the link can use it. Installers and scripts can only be shared with a specific customer.
• New stores. Links without a recipient are available 72 hours after you install the app, and links for a specific customer work straight away. Email admin@alvaapps.com to have your store reviewed sooner.
• Streaming. Stream-only files play in the browser on the share page and are never offered as a download. Each play uses one of that file's downloads.
• Revoke. Revoke on the Share links page stops a link straight away, on any plan, even after a downgrade. A file URL already handed out keeps working until it expires, after 1 to 24 hours depending on the file's size, and an external link someone already opened can't be taken back. Deleting a file revokes its links too.
• Automation and API. A new Shopify Flow trigger Share link downloaded, and /share-links endpoints in the external API.

Send yourself a test order

Check delivery before launch without a discount code or a storefront visit. Choose Send test order from a product's More menu, and Alva creates a real Shopify test order delivered to your store's email address. Available on every plan, including Free. See Send a test order to yourself.

• Real delivery. You get the real download email and download page, and license keys, delays, pre-orders, PDF watermarking and EU withdrawal consent apply as for any order. The dialog follows the order live, from order created to email sent.
• Payment and permission. The order records a payment of the smallest amount in your store's currency, such as $0.01, as paid, and no card is charged. The first time, Shopify asks you to approve a permission to manage orders.
• Counting. Test orders skip fraud review, and Alva doesn't report their receipts, downloads or plays to Shopify Analytics (a product update email that reaches your store email before clean-up is still reported). Alva's dashboard, Orders list (with a Test badge) and exports include them, and they are tagged alva-test-order for Shopify Flow conditions.
• Clean up. Switches off the order's downloads, returns its license keys to their group (optional, on by default) and cancels the order in Shopify, refunding the test payment.
• Limits. Up to 5 test orders per store in any 24 hours, one at a time.

Digital pre-orders with one release date and optional bonus content

Sell a digital product before it's ready. Create a launch under Products → Pre-orders, attach products and variants, and every buyer's files, links and license keys unlock together on the release date, set in your store's time zone. Buyers pay in full at checkout and get a confirmation email straight away. Included on every paid plan. See Sell digital pre-orders.

• Move or release early. Move the date earlier or later until 5 minutes before release, and email waiting buyers the new date. Release now opens a whole launch and Release pre-order now a single order. Resending the download email doesn't release a pre-order.
• Bonus content. Mark files or links Right away (bonus) and buyers get them at purchase. Bonus downloads don't count toward the download limit.
• Storefront. A Pre-order notice theme block shows a badge, the release date in the buyer's time zone and an optional countdown.
• Launch day. A readiness list with alerts 72, 24 and 1 hour before release, a launch summary email, and Retry failed for release emails that didn't go out.
• Cancellations, refunds and POS. Cancelling an order or refunding it in full automatically removes access to a pre-order that is still waiting for launch. Released pre-orders and ordinary purchases keep their access. Shopify POS sales wait for the release too.
• Automation and API. New Shopify Flow triggers Pre-order placed and Pre-order released, a Release pre-orders early option on Grant additional downloads, and /preorders endpoints in the external API.

In-browser streaming for video, audio and PDFs, with per-file stream-only mode

Customers can now watch videos, listen to audio and read PDFs in their browser instead of downloading them first. You choose per file on the product page: Off (the default), Stream and download or Stream only. Included on every paid plan. See Stream video, audio and PDFs and Stream-only mode.

• Download page. Audio plays right in the file list. Videos and PDFs open in a player or a page-by-page reader, and long videos play to the end because the player refreshes its link on its own.
• Thank-you page, order status and customer account. Watch, Listen and Read buttons open the player on the download page.
• Subtitles. A .vtt file beside a video, named after it or with a language tag such as lecture.de.vtt, plays as a subtitle track.
• Resume. Videos, audio and PDFs reopen where the customer stopped, on that device.
• Upload check. Alva warns on the product page when a video or audio file plays only in Safari, or when an MP4 isn't web-optimised.
• Stream only hides the download button and download link for that file on every customer surface, and a ZIP product's archive is rebuilt without the stream-only files. It is a deterrent, not DRM: pair PDFs with watermarking.
• Plays and limits. Plays don't use up downloads unless you turn on Plays count toward the download limit. Then a play counts once per product every 6 hours.
• Automation and reporting. A new Media streamed trigger in Shopify Flow, a Media streamed event in Shopify Analytics where Shopify Analytics app events are available for your store, and stream_kind, stream_only and view_url on the API's download URLs.
• API. POST /mappings and PUT /mappings/{id} take stream_file_ids and stream_only_file_ids to set each file's mode, and mapping responses return both lists.

Clearer fraud reasons in Shopify Flow

The Digital order flagged for fraud trigger now tells you why an order is under review. Its two existing Fraud Reason values are unchanged: High risk order and Medium risk order (flagged for review). Every other order under review used to arrive as Medium risk order (flagged for review) too, and now gets a value of its own: Risk check could not be completed when the fraud check could not finish, Risk not yet assessed when Shopify has not assessed the order yet, and Unknown risk level for anything else. A workflow that approves orders when the Fraud Reason contains “Medium” no longer approves these orders, so add a separate branch for them if you want them handled automatically. The Approve flagged order action now only acts on orders that fraud prevention is holding, and on orders rejected earlier with Reject flagged order. On any other order the step fails with “No flagged order found or already approved” instead of re-sending the download email. The fraud alert email you receive now also says when the risk check could not be completed, or when Shopify has not assessed the order yet.

Password-protect the PDFs you watermark

Watermarking can now lock the file it produces. Turn protection on for a product, set an owner password only you hold, and every stamped PDF goes out encrypted: the customer opens it without a password, prints it and copies text from it as normal, while editing, rearranging pages, adding comments and filling in forms are restricted. Those restrictions are PDF permission flags — most readers respect them, so treat them as a deterrent against casual editing rather than a lock. Customers who already bought the product receive a protected copy from their next download onwards. Included on every paid plan. See Protect PDFs with an owner password.

Sold links open in a new tab

A link product bought through Alva now opens in a new tab on the thank-you page, the order status page and the customer account page — the delivery email and the hosted download page already did. Buyers no longer navigate away from an order page they may not be able to reopen, which used to look like losing access. File and ZIP downloads are unchanged.

Extra downloads are granted per order

Granting a customer more downloads — from the admin or through the Shopify Flow action — now applies to the order you granted it on, and only that one. A customer who bought the same product twice keeps a separate allowance per order, and the download page, the resend link and the counter all agree on the number. Link visit limits are enforced the same way. See Reset download limits for a customer.

Variant view on the product page

When each variant of a product delivers different files, the product page could only tell you which variants this mapping covers — never what each variant actually delivers. The new Variant view toggle lists every variant with the files it delivers, flags the ones with nothing of their own, the ones covered by an "all variants" mapping and the ones claimed twice, and lets you jump to a variant's own mapping or create one for it in a click. Standard view is unchanged and stays the default. See Map files to specific product variants.

Create files in the API from a URL

The external REST API can now ingest a file from a URL instead of requiring you to upload the bytes: hand it a Dropbox direct-download link and Alva fetches, stores and maps the file for you — multi-GB videos included. Fetches are restricted to an allowlist of hosts and blocked from reaching private networks, and every redirect hop is re-checked. The same release added link products to the API, so courses and gated URLs can be created programmatically too. See the API reference.

Watermarks in Japanese, Chinese and Korean

Watermarks containing kanji, kana or Hangul rendered as empty boxes, and did so silently — the bundled font covered no CJK characters at all, yet the stamp still reported success. Alva now ships a second font and routes each character to whichever font can draw it, so a Japanese buyer's name in the default Licensed to {customer.full_name} template stamps correctly. Watermarks that already rendered correctly are unchanged.

Partial fulfilment for mixed orders

An order holding a T-shirt and a PDF used to stay unfulfilled, because Alva only auto-fulfilled orders it could fulfil completely. Turn on partial fulfilment in Settings → Orders and Alva marks just the digital line items as fulfilled, leaving the physical ones for your normal shipping process. Auto-fulfilment can also be overridden per product — always, never, or inherit the store setting. See Partially fulfil mixed digital and physical orders.

Variant pictures and search in the product list

The products list now shows each variant's own image rather than the product's, and the search box matches variant titles as well as product titles — so "Blue / Large" finds the right row. Paging moved to the server, so a catalogue with thousands of per-variant mappings loads one page at a time instead of all at once.

Choose which PDFs are watermarked

Watermarking is no longer all-or-nothing per product. Every PDF row on the product page now has a Watermark checkbox — untick a bonus file or instructions PDF to deliver it unchanged while the rest stay watermarked. PDFs with security restrictions (for example "prevent copying") cannot be watermarked, so Alva now excludes them automatically and delivers the original unchanged instead of holding the download — their checkbox shows as disabled. See Choose which PDFs are watermarked for the full behaviour.

Watermark only the pages you choose

Watermarking every page of a 900-page book is slow and rarely what you want. Choose all pages, the first N, the last N, every Nth, or a custom list of pages and ranges such as 1-3, 7, 40- — shop-wide, or per product. Fewer pages also means faster stamping on long documents, and Alva warns you if the pages you picked don't exist in a PDF. See Choose where your watermark appears.

Delayed download delivery

Set a delay per product — seconds up to 365 days — and buyers can only open that product's files, packs and links once it elapses. Until then every customer surface shows an "available on" date, and inside the last ten minutes it becomes a live countdown that releases itself. The buyer gets a heads-up at purchase and the delivery email at release. The wait counts from each order's own purchase time. See Delay download delivery.

License-key-only products

A product no longer needs a file attached to it. Map a product to a license key tag alone and Alva delivers the key by email, on the download page, in the customer account and at POS — with no empty download button and no placeholder file to upload. Key delivery can be delayed globally or per product. See Sell a license-key-only product and Delay license key delivery.

EU right of withdrawal consent

Merchants selling instant downloads to EU consumers can now collect the Article 16(m) waiver of the 14-day withdrawal right before delivery. Switch it on and no download URL, link redirect or license key is issued for an order until the buyer has consented; the consent is recorded once per order, confirmed to the buyer by email as the durable-medium record the directive asks for, and exportable as evidence. A theme block puts the same checkbox on the product page. Off by default, available on every plan, and POS orders are exempt. See EU right of withdrawal consent.

PDF watermarking with forensic tracing

Stamp every delivered PDF with the buyer's name, email and order number, plus an invisible forensic marker so any leaked copy traces back to the original customer. Enable from Settings → PDF Watermarking, configure your watermark defaults, then turn it on per product from its product mapping page. Choose from 9 static positions, a tiled grid, or a diagonal rotation, with adjustable opacity, colour and font size. Templates support variables like {customer.full_name}, {customer.email}, {order.name} and {order.date}. Available on Basic, Pro and Enterprise plans — see the PDF watermarking guide for setup details.

Notify past buyers when a product changes

Fixed an error, added a bonus file, shipped v2 of a template? The Notify Customers button on a product sends a one-off update email, carrying a fresh download link, to every customer who has already bought it. Preview the recipient count before sending, cancel a send while it is still queued, and send at most once per product per week. Available on paid plans.

Custom sending domains

Merchants can now send delivery emails from a verified branded domain. DKIM and Return-Path are set up from the Alva admin, and every download email lands in buyer inboxes with the merchant's own sender identity.

Order status download access

Customers can now open their digital downloads directly from the Shopify order status page and related surfaces — no more lost links, no more support tickets asking where the file went.

Link-only product delivery

Products can now deliver secure external links — private Drive folders, members-only pages, course URLs, Discord invites, or any gated destination — instead of a file.

Per-link access rules

Set visit limits and expiry windows per delivered link, including fixed-date expiration.

Tag-based license key pools

License keys can now be grouped with tags and mapped to products. Makes entitlement management for stores selling dozens of license-based products far cleaner.

CSV import and key generation

Bulk-import existing keys via CSV, or let Alva auto-generate them per order. Inventory management for license-based products is now a one-minute job.

Low-stock license alerts

Threshold-based alerts warn merchants before a license pool runs dry, so customer fulfillment is never blocked waiting for a restock.

Personalized order fulfillment

Made-to-order digital products — wedding invitations, custom portraits, bespoke artwork — now flow through a smoother per-order file upload and auto-delivery workflow.

Branded download page controls

Customize colors, copy and layout for the customer download page. Every touchpoint between checkout and file delivery now carries the merchant's brand.

Per-product email customization

Configure delivery email content on a per-product basis. Useful for multi-brand stores and catalogs where different products need different tone or instructions.

POS email capture delivery

In-store Shopify POS purchases now capture the customer's email at the register and trigger automatic digital delivery — a first-class experience for conventions, pop-ups, and retail.

WooCommerce migration support

Migration tools help import legacy WooCommerce digital customers and purchase records directly into the Alva workflow on Shopify.

Etsy sync mapping improvements

Bulk matching for Etsy-synced products dramatically speeds up setup for merchants running both platforms during migration.

Expanded Shopify Flow coverage

More triggers and actions for Shopify Flow enable deeper automation — approve/reject orders, grant or revoke access, resend emails, tag customers — all from the visual editor, no code.

Fraud review queue controls

Merchants can hold and review suspicious purchases in a dedicated queue before any file or license key is released — the full fraud-review experience baked in.

Secure expiring download URLs

Every delivery link is now signed and time-limited. Dramatically reduces unauthorized sharing and gives merchants control over how long a link stays valid.

IP-based download controls

Track and limit downloads by IP address — a lightweight but effective layer of protection for paid digital content.

Universal file type delivery

Alva delivers any file type — PDFs, videos, audio, archives, 3D models, code, fonts, Procreate brushes — with a single upload path. Files up to 20 GB per single file on paid plans.