Let people read it,not keep it

What view-only actually does

When you turn off downloads, the public page changes in two concrete ways: the download button disappears, and the direct file link, the URL that would let someone save the raw PDF or image, is no longer exposed. The file is streamed into an inline viewer instead of handed over as a file. So the reader can scroll through your document on any device, but there is no one-click way to pull down a copy and forward it, re-upload it, or archive it. That single toggle covers the most common leak: a helpful recipient who downloads your draft and emails it onward without thinking.

Drafts, samples and priced quotes

The best fits are files you want read but not circulated. A contract or proposal draft you're still negotiating, you want the other side to review the current version, not save an old one that resurfaces later. A sample: a chapter, a lesson, a stock photo, a template preview you're showing before someone pays for the full file. A priced quote where the number is for one client's eyes and shouldn't be forwarded to a competitor for price-matching. In all of these, the value is in reading, not in owning the file, and view-only quietly keeps it that way without you emailing back and forth.

The honest truth: it can't stop screenshots

This is the part most tools bury, so here it is plainly. Anyone who can see your file on screen can screenshot it, photograph it with a phone, or retype it. View-only removes the easy download button; it does not, and cannot, stop a determined person from capturing what's in front of them. There's no DRM, no watermark, no lock on the pixels. If a leaked screenshot would genuinely hurt you, view-only is not enough on its own. Treat it as a speed bump that stops accidental and casual copying, not a vault. We'd rather tell you that up front than let you over-trust it.

Pair it with a password for real control

View-only decides what a viewer can do once they're in; a password decides who gets in at all. Layering them is where it gets genuinely useful. Add a password (Pro) and your view-only link won't open until the reader enters the code you shared separately, over a call, a text, a different channel. Now a link that leaks into the wrong inbox is a dead end, and the people you did trust can read but not casually download. For a confidential quote or an unreleased draft, that combination, locked entry plus no download, is far closer to "private" than either control alone.

Add an expiry so it doesn't outlive the deal

The other half of control is time. A view-only link with no end date sits in someone's inbox forever, and old drafts have a way of getting opened long after they're stale. On Pro you can set an expiry date: once the deadline passes, the link simply stops working, view-only or not. Use it to match the life of the thing you're sharing, a quote that's valid for two weeks, a sample that expires when the free trial ends, a proposal that shouldn't be readable after the pitch. When the window closes, the file is no longer served, which is a cleaner guarantee than hoping people forget the URL.

Know it was actually read

A view-only link still counts every open, so you get the one signal that matters after you hit send: did they look? On the free plan you see the view count. On Pro you see more, which devices and countries opened it, so you can tell a proposal was read on a laptop in the client's city versus never touched at all. That changes how you follow up. Instead of a blind "just checking in," you know whether to nudge, re-send, or move on. It won't tell you who by name, and it can't see a screenshot being taken, but it reliably answers whether your file got attention.

When view-only is the wrong tool

Be honest with yourself about the job. If the recipient needs to keep the file, sign a PDF, edit a spreadsheet, print a boarding pass, load a design into their own software, don't use view-only; you'll just create friction and a support message asking for a downloadable copy. If the content is legally sensitive or regulated, view-only is not a compliance control and shouldn't be treated as one. And if you actively want people to save and reuse the file, leave downloads on. View-only earns its place in a narrow, real band: files meant to be seen, on your terms, for a while, not everything you share.

Who this control is actually for

View-only is not one feature with one audience. Three quite different jobs reach for it, and each wants a slightly different combination of the controls around it, which is why we have written each one up separately rather than pretending they are the same page.

• Photographers sending proofs. The client must choose, not keep. Downloads off, web-resolution files, a comment box for their picks, and a deadline on the link.
• Founders and consultants sending a deck or a proposal. Downloads off early in a process, back on for whoever is genuinely in diligence and needs it offline.
• Anyone circulating a draft. A contract, a policy, a sample chapter, something you want read at this version, not archived at this version.