Share a PDF, deck or image as a link that asks the viewer for their email first. You get the list of who opened it and when, with a CSV export, in the link's analytics.
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How do I require an email to view a document?
Upload the file above and copy the link. In the link's settings, switch on 'Ask for the viewer's email' (Pro). From then on the page shows one email field before the file, and each address appears in the link's analytics with the time it was entered and the opens matched to it. Export the list as CSV whenever you like.
One field, then the file
The visitor sees a single email box, types their address, and the file opens in the same tab. No account to create, no confirmation email to wait for, no form with six questions. The low friction is the point: people fill in one field; they abandon a form.
A list of who opened it, with the time
The link's analytics page gains a viewer table: each email, when it was first entered, when it was last seen, how many opens were matched to it, plus country and device. Opens are matched to an email by network, which is honest but not perfect; see the limits below.
One click downloads the viewer list as a CSV you can drop into a spreadsheet, a CRM import or a mailing tool. Every cell is escaped, so an address someone typed cannot run as a formula when you open the file.
Get an email the moment it is opened
Turn on 'email me when viewed' on the same link and you hear about the first open without checking the dashboard. It is throttled to one message per link per hour, so a deck that gets passed around does not flood your inbox.
The gate, the viewer list and the CSV are Pro. Uploading and sharing the link is free, and free links still count opens; asking for an email and seeing who typed one needs Pro.
Opens are matched to an email by a hashed IP address, not by a login. Two people on the same office Wi-Fi who both left an email can be credited with each other's opens. We never invent a view, but on a shared network the per-person numbers can merge.
We check the address looks like an email, nothing more. No confirmation message is sent, so a typo or a made-up address gets through. Treat the list as a strong signal, not an identity check.
There is no NDA or agreement gate, no data room and no verified-email badge. If you need a signed NDA before the file opens, this is the wrong tool; if you need to know who read your deck and when, it is the right one.
Any file type that opens in the browser works: PDF, images, slides exported as PDF, video. Free covers files up to 100 MB; Pro raises the per-file limit.
How it works
1
Upload the file
Drop a PDF, image or video on the box above and copy the short link. It opens in any browser with no account for the reader.
2
Switch on 'Ask for the viewer's email'
Open the link's settings, go to Sharing, and turn the switch on. This control is Pro. Add 'email me when viewed', a password or an expiry date in the same panel if you want them.
3
Share it and watch the viewer list
Send the link anywhere. Each person types an email before the file opens, and their address, first and last time seen, and matched opens appear in the link's analytics. Export the list as CSV when you need it.
From 'someone opened it' to 'Dana opened it at 9:12'
A view counter tells you a deck was opened four times. It cannot tell you whether that was your contact reading it four times or three colleagues reading it once each, and it certainly cannot tell you which three. The email gate turns the counter into names. Each person who wants the file types an address, and from then on their opens sit next to that address in the viewer table, with the first and last time they were seen. For a founder sending a deck to a partner, that is the difference between 'they looked at it' and 'the partner forwarded it to two associates on Tuesday', which changes what you write in the follow-up.
What the viewer sees
The link opens to a short page: the title you gave the file, a single email field and a button. There is no preview behind it to tempt a workaround, and the social card for the link shows a generic title instead of the file name. After they submit, the file opens right there, in the same tab, in the normal viewer with page navigation, zoom and search. They are not asked again on that browser for a while. If you also set a password, the password comes first and the email second, so one person can be asked for both without seeing two pages at once.
·No account, no confirmation email, no app: one field and the file.
·Works the same on a phone, where most first opens happen.
·The file's direct address is gated too, so the field cannot be skipped.
How opens are matched to an email, and when they merge
We do not make viewers log in, so there is no account to tie each open to. Instead, when someone leaves an email, we store a shortened hash of their network address next to it, and later opens from the same hash are credited to that email. This is what the viewer table means by 'matched by network'. It works well for people on their own phone or home connection. It gets fuzzy in an office: two colleagues on the same Wi-Fi who both typed an email will each be credited with opens from that network, so both rows can show the same count. A viewer who leaves an email on the train and reads on the office network later will not be matched. We would rather over-credit than invent a row, and the table says so in its own caption.
Collect emails from a shared PDF, then actually use them
A guide, a template pack, a report or a sample chapter behind an email field is the plainest lead magnet there is, and it needs no landing page builder. Upload the PDF, switch the gate on, and put the link in a bio, a newsletter, a QR code on a flyer or a reply to a forum thread. The viewer table fills up as people open it, and the CSV takes the list into whichever tool you send mail from. Tell people what they are signing up for next to the link, and remember that these are addresses people typed to read a file, not a consent to a weekly newsletter unless you said so.
·Put the link on a QR code: every link has one built in, and replacing the PDF keeps it.
·Give the link a custom name on Pro so it reads as yours in a bio.
Pair it with a password, an expiry or a watermark
The email gate answers 'who'. The other controls on the same panel answer 'who is allowed' and 'for how long'. A deck for one investor group can carry a password you send separately, an expiry date after the round closes, and the email gate so you still learn which partners read it. A pricing guide you hand out at a conference might carry only the gate. The watermark stamps the viewer's details on the PDF preview, which pairs naturally with the gate: the address they typed appears on the pages they see. All of these run on the server when the file is requested, so none can be switched off from the visitor's side.
·Order of gates: expiry, then view limit, then password, then email.
·Watermark and page-by-page analytics apply to PDF previews.
Compared with DocSend-style tools
Document-tracking suites bundle the email gate with data rooms, NDA click-through, team seats and per-seat pricing. If you are running a due-diligence process with folders of documents and a legal gate, use one of those. If what you actually want is 'put my PDF behind an email field and tell me who read it', that is this page, on a link you already use for everything else, at one flat Pro price instead of per seat. The tracking you get is the same shape: who, when, which pages, how long, from where. What you do not get is the data room, the NDA and a verified badge next to each address, and we would rather say that here than have you find out later.
Good manners with the addresses you collect
The viewer list is yours, scoped to your account, and never shown to other viewers of the link. Say near the link why you are asking, especially if you plan to write to people afterwards. If someone asks you to remove their address, deleting the link removes its viewer list with it. And keep in mind the ceiling of what an email field proves: it tells you an address was typed by someone who wanted the file at that moment, from that network. That is plenty for a follow-up call, and not enough for a courtroom.
Set an end date or a view cap and the link stops on its own. Send a quote that expires Friday, or a preview that closes after five opens, without remembering to delete it.
See which partners at a fund opened the deck, and which pages they stayed on.
Sales and consultants
Know when a proposal reaches the person who signs, not just your contact.
Course creators and writers
Give away a sample chapter or a template pack and build the list without a page builder.
Agencies
Share a case study or a lookbook and learn which prospects actually opened it.
What people say
In their words
“The admin interface is incredibly intuitive and set up exactly how a user actually thinks. My students all said it was easy to use and worked perfectly.”
JJasonTeacher · shares class materials
“The app is genuinely nice and easy to handle. I keep all my different app links in one place, my App Store and Play Store screenshots, and I organise my images and PDFs into albums with tags. The big storage means everything just lives here.”
EEvelynApp developer
“I handle contracts, invoices and legal files for several different organisations, so almost everything I send is password protected. Link in Seconds makes that simple, and I run my portfolio on a custom domain. It is easy to use and genuinely affordable.”
Uploading and sharing the link is free, and every link counts opens for free. Asking for an email before the file opens, the viewer list and the CSV export are Pro, along with the password, expiry and view limit.
Type an email in one field and press the button. The file opens in the same tab. No account, no confirmation email, no app, and they are not asked again in that browser for a while.
No. The file's own address is gated too, so a direct link to the PDF returns the same email page. Only an address that has been submitted in that browser unlocks the file.
A viewer table in the link's analytics: each email, when it was first entered, when it was last seen, how many opens were matched to it, plus country and device. Pro analytics also show which pages of a PDF were read and for how long.
By a shortened hash of the viewer's network address, stored next to the email they typed. Later opens from the same hash are credited to that email. On a shared office Wi-Fi, two people who both left an email can be credited with each other's opens, so per-person counts can merge. We never invent a view.
No. We check it looks like an email and nothing more. No confirmation message is sent, so a typo or a made-up address gets through. Treat the list as a strong signal rather than an identity check.
For the email gate and the who-read-it tracking, yes. There is no data room, no NDA or agreement gate, no team seats and no verified-email badge. If you need those, use a dedicated tool; if you need the gate and the list, this is simpler and cheaper.
Yes, as a CSV from the link's analytics, ready for a spreadsheet, a CRM import or a mailing tool. Every cell is escaped, so a typed address cannot run as a formula when you open the file.
Anything that opens in the browser: PDF, images, slides exported as PDF, video. Free covers files up to 100 MB; Pro raises the per-file limit. Replacing the file later keeps the link and the list, on every plan.
Know who read it, not just that someone did
Upload the file for free, switch on the email gate on Pro, and the viewer list fills in as people open the link.
