Set a date and time, or a number of opens, and the link stops working on its own. After that the visitor sees a plain 'this link has expired' page, never your file.
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How do I make a PDF link that expires?
Upload the PDF above and copy the link. In the link's settings, pick an expiry date and time, or set how many times it can be opened (Pro). From that moment the link stops on its own and shows an 'expired' page. Nothing expires unless you set it: by default every link stays live.
A date and a time, to the minute
Pick when the link should stop and it does, on the server, without you logging back in. A quote that is 'valid until Friday 5pm' actually stops at Friday 5pm, which is the only way a deadline in a PDF means anything.
Or self-destruct after a number of opens
Set the link to open once, five times, twenty-five times or any number you type. The count happens on the file itself, before the bytes are served, so the limit holds even if someone tries to fetch the file directly. 'Once' makes a true one-time link.
After the date passes, the visitor sees 'This link has expired'. After the last allowed open, they see 'This link has been used up'. Either way they know it was deliberate, and nothing about the file, not even its name, is shown.
Change your mind without a new link
Expiry does not delete anything. The file stays in your dashboard; clear the date or raise the limit and the same link works again. Replace the PDF and the link, its date and its count all stay. Replacing is free on every plan.
Expiry date and view limit are Pro controls. The upload and the link are free, and so is turning a link off by hand. The timed and counted versions need Pro.
A view limit counts opens, not people. A refresh in the same browser session does not use a second open, but a second device or browser does. For a one-time link, tell the recipient to open it when they have a minute to read.
Expiry is not 'unsend'. Anyone who downloaded the PDF while the link was live keeps their copy. Turn off downloads to make the link view-only if that matters; it hides the download button but cannot stop a screenshot.
Links never expire by themselves. Free and Pro links both stay live until you set a date, a limit, or switch them off. Free covers PDFs up to 100 MB per file.
How it works
1
Upload the PDF
Drop the file on the box above and copy the short link. It opens in any browser, on any device, with no account for the reader.
2
Set a date, a view limit, or both
Open the link's settings, go to Access, and pick an expiry date and time or type how many opens to allow. 'Once' makes a one-time link. Both controls are Pro. Add a password in the same panel if the file is confidential.
3
Send it and let it stop on its own
Paste the link where you were going to send the file. Watch the opens in your dashboard. After the date or the last open, visitors see a plain 'expired' page, and you can clear the date to revive the same link any time.
Quotes, offers and prices that stop being true
The most common reason to want a PDF that expires is that the PDF is about to be wrong. A quote with this month's rates, a term sheet that is being renegotiated, an early-bird price list, a salary offer with a reply-by date: all of them are accurate for a while and then misleading. Set the expiry to the date in the document and the two agree. A client who opens the link in week three sees that the offer has ended instead of an old price they can argue from. When you send the new terms, replace the file in the same link or make a fresh one, whichever reads better in the thread.
·Write the same deadline in the PDF and in the link so nobody is surprised.
·Pick the time, not just the day: 'Friday' usually means end of business, not midnight.
·Extend from the link's settings if the client asks for more time.
The one-time link: open it, read it, and it is gone
Set the view limit to one and you have a self-destructing PDF link. It suits things that should be read by exactly one person, once: a payslip, a scanned ID, a password list for a new hire, a document you would rather not have sitting in someone's inbox forever. The open is counted when the file is first served, so if your recipient opens it on their phone and then wants it on a laptop, the laptop will see the 'used up' page. For that reason a limit of two or three is often kinder than one, and still far from public. Tell them in the message that the link opens a limited number of times; people treat it with more care when they know.
What the visitor sees after it expires
A plain page with one line: 'This link has expired' for a date, 'This link has been used up' for a view limit. No file name, no preview, no size, no owner. It looks intentional rather than broken, so the person does not email you asking whether the server is down. The same gate runs on the file address itself, not only on the page, so a saved direct link to the PDF gets the same answer. If the link also had a password or an email gate, those never get a chance to appear: expiry is checked first.
Expiry plus a password: the usual pair for confidential drafts
A date limits how long a link can be abused; a password limits who can use it in that window. Lawyers sending a draft agreement, founders sharing a data pack with one investor, HR sending a compensation summary: all three tend to set both. Add view-only to hide the download button and the watermark to stamp the viewer's details on each page of the PDF preview, and you have most of what a data room charges for, on one link. Every one of these controls is enforced on the server when the file is requested, so they cannot be switched off from the visitor's side.
·Expiry is checked first, then the view limit, then the password.
·Watermark and password are Pro; view-only is free on every plan.
Know it was opened before it expired
The awkward case with a deadline is the client who never opened the link and then says they never got it. Every link counts opens for free, so you can see a zero and resend before Friday instead of after. On Pro, 'email me when viewed' sends you a message the moment the link is opened, and the analytics show which pages of the PDF were read and for how long. Expiring links keep their full history after they stop, so the record of who opened what, and when, stays in your dashboard even once the visitor only sees the expired page.
Nothing expires unless you ask it to
Most transfer services solve storage costs by deleting your file after a few days, so the link you pasted into a client thread last month is dead when they finally click it. Here the default is the opposite. A link stays live, on the free plan and on Pro, until you set a date, set a limit, or switch it off. Expiry is a tool you reach for on purpose for the documents that should stop, not a clock that runs on everything you share. That is also why the expired page is honest about what happened: the owner chose this, the file was not lost.
Teachers, recruiters and anyone with a deadline
An answer key that should be readable only during revision week. An exam paper students can open until the submission deadline and not after. A candidate pack that stops when the role closes. A ticket confirmation that is pointless after the event. A link that expires does the housekeeping for you: you set the date once when you share it, and you never have to remember to go back and turn it off. If someone needs it later, clearing the date takes a moment and the same link works again, so there is no cost to being strict up front.
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.
Make 'this quote is valid until Friday' true, and extend it from the settings if they ask.
HR and recruiters
Send an offer letter or a payslip as a link that opens a few times and then stops.
Teachers
Share the answer key for revision week only, without remembering to take it down.
Founders
Give one investor a data pack with a date and a password, and see when it was read.
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.”
The upload and the link are free, and so is switching a link off by hand. Setting an expiry date or a view limit so the link stops on its own is a Pro control, like the password and the email gate.
Yes. Set the view limit to one. The first open is counted when the file is first served, and every later visitor sees a 'used up' page. A refresh in the same browser session does not use a second open; a second device does.
A plain page that says 'This link has expired' for a date, or 'This link has been used up' for a view limit. No file name, no preview, no size. The same answer comes back from the file's direct address, not only the page.
No. The file stays in your dashboard with its full view history. Clear the date or raise the limit and the same link works again. Delete the link yourself if you want the file gone.
No. Free and Pro links both stay live until you set a date, set a limit, or switch them off. Expiry is something you choose per link, not a clock that runs on everything you share.
If they downloaded the PDF while the link was live, yes, that copy is theirs. Turn off downloads to make the link view-only, which hides the download button, though it cannot prevent a screenshot.
Yes. Expiry is checked first, then the view limit, then the password, then the email gate. A link can carry all four. Password and email gate are Pro; view-only is free on every plan.
Yes, on every plan. Replace the file in the link's settings and the same link serves the new version with its date, limit and view count unchanged. Keeping earlier versions to restore is Pro.
Free covers files up to 100 MB each. Pro raises the per-file limit and the total storage. Most PDFs are far smaller, so size is rarely the constraint.
Share it now, let it stop later
Upload the PDF for free, set the date or the number of opens on Pro, and the link takes care of the rest.
