Share Links offer a convenient way to share files with external contacts. You might need to know when those contacts are accessing your files, so you can take some other action, such as processing uploads or updating an entry in your CRM.

Maybe you want to be notified when a visitor completes the registration form for your link. Perhaps you're using a Share Link to collect medical history information, and your clinic managers need to be informed when those documents are received. Share Link notifications help you close the loop and keep track of who is using your links.

Site-Wide Sharing Settings for Notifications

Some sharing settings are available only for site administrators because they affect the behavior of all Share Links within the site. Only site administrators can configure these settings to control what notifications can be generated by Share Link actions.

Share Link Notifications can be generated at significant points in the sharing workflow: when recipients are invited to a Share Link, when the invitation is accepted by the recipient completing their registration, and when visitors upload to a Share Link that permits uploads.

Your site's Link invitation notifications setting determines whether the user who created the Share Link will receive an email listing the recipients invited to a Share Link. The Link registration notifications setting controls whether email notifications can be generated for users when visitors access a Share Link, and the Email notifications for uploads setting controls email notifications to users when visitors upload to a Share Link.

Notify Users When Recipients Are Invited

Link invitation notifications are emails listing all of the invited recipients for a Share Link, and which paths were shared in the link. The notification is sent to the user who created the Share Link. After a Share Link has been removed from your site, the email provides you an audit trail proving that files were previously shared.

When the site-wide Link invitations notifications setting is enabled, the user who created each Share Link will receive an email each time a recipient is invited to a Share Link. This setting applies for all Share Links in the site, but only the user who owns each link will be notified about invitations to that link.

If the site-wide Link invitations notifications setting is disabled, the email will not be generated when recipients are invited.

Notify Users When Registration is Recorded

Link registration notifications are emails generated for a user when a web visitor accesses a Share Link's URL for the very first time. The notification email includes any registration information collected from the visit.

When the site-wide Link registration notifications setting is set to Never send notifications, then users cannot enable registration notifications for any Share Links.

If the site-wide Link registration notifications setting is set to Always send notifications, then the user who created each Share Link will automatically have a notification created to alert them when a visitor registers for their link. Additional registration notifications can also be added for other groups or users within a Share Link's settings.

Site admins could instead configure the Link registration notifications setting to Can be set per Share Link. When this is the case, users can choose whether to add registration notifications for any user or group within a Share Link's settings.

Notify Users When Files are Uploaded

A Share Link notification triggered by uploads includes a list of the files uploaded by the visitor and any registration information collected from them. This email is generated after the visitor leaves the Share Link page, 5 minutes after their upload finishes, or 1 hour after the page is opened (if they did not upload), whichever comes first.

When the site-wide Email notifications for uploads setting is set to Never send notifications, then users cannot enable upload notifications for any Share Links.

If the site-wide Email notifications for uploads setting is set to Always send notifications, then the user who created each Share Link will automatically have a notification created to alert them when a visitor uploads to their link. Additional upload notifications can also be added for other groups or users within a Share Link's settings.

Site admins could instead configure the Email notifications for uploads setting to Can be set per Share Link. When this is the case, users can choose whether to add upload notifications for any user or group within a Share Link's settings.

Notifications Are For Internal Users

Share Link Notification emails can only be sent to your account users, never to external contacts. If you have a use case that would require non-users to receive email notifications for a Share Link, please contact us so we can learn more about your needs.

In addition to the notification emails, which are sent to users, it is possible to enable upload receipt emails for your visitors.

Share Link Notifications vs Folder Notifications

The most important difference between Share Link Notifications and folder-based Email Notifications is their intended use. Email Notifications alert users to significant events taking place within specific folders, while Share Link Notifications track the workflow of human-centric sharing.

Email Notifications can by triggered by file actions, such as files being downloaded or uploaded, and are often employed for monitoring automated processes. There are numerous settings available within Email Notifications to target them narrowly for specific file actions, specific file names, or specific people performing those actions.

In contrast, Share Link Notifications are tracking how a Share Link visitor has interacted with the link. Only two types of activities will generate a Share Link notification: when a visitor completes the registration, and when a visitor uploads to a Share Link. Only activity from a Share Link visitor will trigger Share Link Notifications, so the registration information for each visitor is included in the notification email.