There are many use cases for allowing visitors to a share link to upload, and there's more than one method for doing so. You can configure the link to allow viewers to upload directly, or you can associate a separate Inbox with the link.

Allowing Uploads to a Link

If your intent is for bi-directional sharing, such as a virtual data room used by external contractors for a project, then setting your link to allow uploads as well as downloads probably makes the most sense. You may even choose to allow full access to the link contents, if it's appropriate for your visitors to remove items from the link.

If you are collecting uploads for a limited period of time, such as completed scholarship applications, a link that allows visitors to only upload, probably with an attached registration form, is recommended.

Associating an Inbox

If you need to allow a user to download and also upload, but you want the uploads placed into a folder that is separate from your link, you can associate your Share Link with an Inbox.

Similarly, if you want a user to download a file, make changes to it and upload the changed file, but you don't want them to change the source document on your site, use a download only Share Link associated with an Inbox.

If you want your visitors to upload only files and prevent them from uploading folders, configure an Inbox to block folder uploads, rather than using a Share Link.

Organizing Uploads Into Subfolders

Accepting uploads to your Share Link from multiple people usually requires keeping track of which files were uploaded by which submitter. When your link supports uploading, you can configure it to automatically organize uploads from your web visitors into distinct subfolders.

If you choose not to automatically organize all the uploads into subfolders, all of the files will be commingled into one folder, and uploads with duplicate names will be automatically renamed.

If the automatic organization is enabled, you can specify a template for naming the subfolders. The template accepts placeholders for any registration fields collected (even including fields from a custom form) and the uploader's IP address. If you don't provide a template, the subfolders will be named according to the registration details provided by the uploader. If there is no registration information, subfolders will be given a generic, numbered "Submission" name (Submission 1, Submission 2, etc.).

Uploader Receipt Emails

When your Share Link allows uploads (or uploads and downloads, or full access), you can enable an email receipt of the uploaded files. This sends an email summary of what was uploaded to the web visitor, along with any captured registration information.

Receipt emails provide confidence to your submitters because they receive confirmation of exactly what files were uploaded.

Site administrators can configure your site's behavior for uploader receipts; they can enable receipts for all Share Link, disable them for all Share Links, or allow the user who creates the link to decide whether to enable the email.

If your site's settings are configured to allow share link visitors to directly edit Office documents within the browser, those edits will not trigger uploader receipt emails.

Folder Behaviors

If the folder that your visitors are uploading into has any folder settings that affect uploads, those will affect the files they upload.

If you are limiting the extensions of files that can be uploaded into a folder, Share Link visitors will not be able to upload blocked extensions using a Share Link on that folder. Similarly, if you have enabled regular expression limits for upload files within your folder, that will also apply to Share Link visitors.

If the folder settings automatically rename uploaded files, those will also apply to files uploaded to Share Links. If your link sends receipt emails to uploaders, the emails will contain the renamed files, not the original file names.