Control how recipients open your files
Decide whether the files of a letter can be viewed online, downloaded or both, how often and for how long. Then follow, extend or delete them on the Files page.
7 minutes to read
Files you attach to an email letter are opened by the recipient on the page of the letter. Before you confirm the letter you decide how they may be opened. Afterwards the Files page shows what happened to each file and lets you change its download limit, give the link more time or delete the file.
Set the sharing settings
Open the settings
In the composer, the Attachments section of the delivery panel sums up the settings in one line. Press Change at the end of that line. The dialog Attachments Settings opens.
Choose view or download
Pick one of the three choices under Access Options.
Choose how often
Pick a number under Download limit, or No limit.
Close the dialog
There is no save button. Your choices apply as soon as you make them, and the line in the delivery panel shows them.
Choose how long
Under How they open it in the delivery panel, set Link stays open for.
View online or download
- Download only
- The recipient can save the files. Nothing is shown on the page.
- View online only
- Files a browser can show are shown or played on the page, without a download button.
- View and download
- The recipient can view a file on the page and download it. This is what a new letter starts with.
A browser can show images, PDF files, audio, video and text files. Everything else, for example a ZIP archive or an office document, is always offered as a download, also when you chose view only.
The download limit
Download limit is No limit or one of the numbers 1, 3, 5, or 10. A new letter starts with 3, so change it if your recipients should be able to download more often.
- The limit counts for each recipient and for each file on its own. With a limit of 1 and two recipients, each of them can download each file once
- A download counts only when the whole file was transferred. One that breaks off is given back
- Viewing or playing a file online does not use up a download
- Download all gives the recipient one ZIP file. It counts as one download of every file inside. Files that are view only or have no downloads left are left out of it
Change the download limit later
Open the file
On the Files page, click the file, or choose Details in the menu at the end of its row.
Choose a new limit
Under Download limit, pick No limit or a number per recipient.
Save
Press Save. The new limit applies to every recipient of that file at once.
- The limit is changed for one file. The other files of the letter keep theirs
- A lower limit never takes away downloads a recipient has already used. If a recipient has used more than the number you picked, the limit is set to what was used, and the page tells you so
- There is no way to reset the count of a single recipient. Raise the limit when someone needs another download
How long the link stays open
Link stays open for is one time for the letter and all its files. You can choose 1 hour, 1 day, 5 days, 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year, and a new letter starts with 90 days. The clock starts when the letter is delivered, not when you schedule it. The notice email tells the recipient until when the link works. After that the letter and its files cannot be opened, until you extend the link.
The Files page
Open Files in the menu. The page lists every file you uploaded, newest first and 20 to a page, with the letter it belongs to, its status, the number of downloads and views, and when its link ends. You can search by file name, subject or recipient, and filter with All files, Active and Expired. Click a file for the details: what its status means, the download limit, the dates, the letter, and the last five times it was downloaded, viewed or played.
What the statuses mean
- Not sent yet
- Active
- Viewed
- Downloaded
- Limit reached
- Expired
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not sent yet | The letter has not been delivered. The link starts to work at delivery, and the expiry column shows Counts from delivery. A file that was uploaded but belongs to no letter has this status too. |
| Active | The letter is delivered and the file can be opened. Nobody has opened it yet. |
| Viewed | A recipient has viewed or played the file online. Nobody has downloaded it. |
| Downloaded | At least one recipient has downloaded the file. |
| Limit reached | Every recipient has used up their downloads of this file. Raise the download limit in the details to let them download again. |
| Expired | The link time has run out. Nobody can open the file. Extend the link before the file is removed for good. |
Playing a recording online counts as opened, never as a download. The details list it under Recent activity as Played.
Extend the time
There are two ways, and both do the same: they extend the link of the letter and every file sent with it, together.
- From the Files page
- Choose Extend Expiration in the menu of a file, or in its details. Under Extend by, pick a period and press Update. The dialog shows the new end date.
- From Manage Letters
- Click the letter on the Email tab of Manage Letters. Email Details shows Link open until, or Link expired on, with the button Extend link. Pick a period under Extend by and press Extend. This is the way for a letter without files.
- The periods are 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year
- The time is added to what is left. For a link that has expired it counts from today
- A link never stays open for more than 1 year from today, and extending never makes a link shorter
- The recipient opens the letter with the same link and the same access code as before
- A letter that is not delivered yet cannot be extended. Its time starts at delivery
- An expired file is kept for at least 30 days after its end date, so you can still extend the link. After that the files are removed for good, and the link can no longer be extended, also for a letter without files
Delete a file
Choose Delete in the menu of the file and confirm. The file is removed from the server and every recipient loses access to it at once. The letter itself stays, and its text can still be read. Deleting also works before delivery: the letter then goes out without that file. The room the file took in your storage is free again.
Good to know
- Files are stored encrypted on the server. The details of a file show AES-256 Encrypted
- A recipient unlocks the letter once with their email address and the access code, and can then open the files. See What your recipient sees
- Expired files still count towards your storage until they are deleted or removed
- For a letter far in the future, choose a long link time. The recipient may not read the notice on the first day
- In the appFilesSee and manage the files you sent.
- Attach files and recordings to an email letterAdd documents, photos, or a voice or video message recorded in your browser. What your plan allows, when files are uploaded and what happens at the limits.
- What your recipient sees and how they open the letterThe notice email, the unlock page, reading the letter and getting its files, step by step. You can pass this page on to a recipient who is stuck.
- How your letters are protectedWhat FuturePostman encrypts, how a recipient proves who they are, when a link stops working, what staff can see and where the protection ends.