How it works
Alva uploads the file directly from the browser to Cloudflare R2 storage. Customers never download from Shopify — they download via a presigned URL that expires in 60 seconds, regenerated for every click. There is no bandwidth cap on any plan.
Upload steps
1. Open the Files page
Inside the Shopify admin, click Apps, then Alva Digital Downloads, then Files in the left sidebar.
Alva Files page in empty state. Highlight the Upload button in the top right and the dotted dropzone in the centre. No real customer data visible.
2. Click Upload
Click Upload in the top right, or drag a file onto the dropzone. Select one or more files from disk. Alva accepts any binary format — PDF, ZIP, MP4, WAV, EXE, MP3, PSD, indd, blend, and so on.
Upload in progress. Show a single file row with a percentage progress bar at around 60%. Eyebrow caption clean — no real filenames.
3. Wait for the upload to finish
The progress bar shows live percentage. Larger files take longer; a 1 GB video on a 50 Mbps connection takes about three minutes. Don't close the tab during the upload.
4. Confirm the file appears
When the upload finishes, the file appears in the list with size, format, and upload date. From here, click the file to attach it to a product, add it to a pack, or rename it.
Files page with one uploaded file. Highlight the row and the file size column. No real customer data visible.
Limitations
Single-file uploads are capped at 5 GB. For larger downloads, split the file into a multi-part archive and use a pack. Plans on Free and Basic tiers have storage caps shown on the Pricing page.
See also
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Last updated 2026-05-05