Password-protected and expiring links: safer sharing in two clicks

A plain share link is a secret URL. Whoever has it can open the file, today or in three years, whether you sent it to them or not. For a holiday photo that is fine. For a contract, a set of accounts, a client’s ID scan or an unreleased piece of work, it is not.

Two settings fix most of this. A password means the link alone is not enough. An expiry date means the link stops working on a day you choose. Both are a couple of clicks when you create the link, and this article is about using them well.

Why the plain link is riskier than it feels

People reason that a link is safe because nobody could guess it. That is true. Nobody guesses share links. They get them in other ways:

• The recipient forwards the email to a colleague, who forwards it again.
• The email sits in a shared inbox that six people can read.
• The link is pasted into a group chat and stays there for years.
• The recipient’s email account is compromised and the attacker reads everything in it.
• The link appears in a browser history, a chat log, a backup of a chat log.

In each case the link still works, because the link is the only thing protecting the file. Password and expiry both work by making the link itself insufficient.

Setting a password

When you create a share link in the Onlinedrive Share dialog, there is an option to add a password. Anyone opening the link is asked for it before they see anything.

A few habits make this actually useful rather than decorative.

Send the password by a different route than the link. If both are in the same email, anyone who gets the email gets both. Link by email, password by text message, is the usual pairing. Link in a chat, password said out loud on a call, also works.

Do not reuse a house password. If every link you send uses the same password, a client who received one last year can open the one you sent someone else this week. Generate something fresh each time. It does not need to be long; it needs to be different.

Use a password when the recipient is a role rather than a person. If you are sending to “accounts@” or “info@” at a company, you have no idea how many people read that inbox. A password at least means the file does not open for everyone who skims it.

Do not use it as a substitute for sharing with a named person. If you are working with someone over weeks, share with them by email instead; they sign in, you can see who has access, and you can remove them later. Passwords are for handoffs. Share links vs sharing with a person covers the choice in more detail.

Setting an expiry date

The expiry date is the setting more people should use and fewer do. It answers the question “how long does this need to work?” and then enforces the answer.

The honest answer is usually days or weeks, not forever:

• A proposal: until the decision date, plus a week.
• A delivery of finished files: two to four weeks, enough for the client to download and check.
• Documents for a meeting: the day after the meeting.
• A draft for feedback: until the feedback deadline.
• Photos for a family: a month or two, then a fresh link if someone missed it.

Set the expiry when you create the link. You will not come back later to do it; nobody does.

If the recipient needs more time, make a new link. This is a feature, not an inconvenience. Each new link is a moment where you confirm the person still needs the file.

Using both together

For anything genuinely confidential, use both. The password stops casual access by anyone who stumbles on the link. The expiry limits how long the exposure lasts if the password leaks too.

A reasonable set of defaults by sensitivity:

• Public or harmless (a flyer, a holiday video): plain link, expiry optional.
• Private but not damaging (a draft, a quote, photos of people): expiry date, no password.
• Confidential (contracts, ID documents, financial records, anything under NDA): password and expiry, with download switched off if the recipient only needs to look.

That last option, download on or off, is a third setting worth knowing. With downloading off, the recipient can preview the file in the browser but cannot save it. It will not stop a determined person taking a screenshot, so treat it as a clear statement of intent rather than a lock.

A worked example

A small architecture practice sends a set of drawings to a planning consultant for review. The drawings are the practice’s work and the client’s confidential project.

1. They create a share link on the folder of PDFs.
2. They set a password, a short random phrase generated for this link only.
3. They set the expiry to the review deadline plus three days.
4. They leave downloading on, because the consultant needs to mark the drawings up.
5. They email the link with a note saying “password to follow”, then text the password.

If the consultant forwards the email internally, colleagues cannot open the folder without the password. If the email is still sitting in someone’s inbox in a year, the link no longer works anyway. The practice did about thirty seconds of extra work.

Mistakes that undo the benefit

Password in the same message as the link. Covered above, but it is the most common error by a wide margin. If you only change one habit, change this one.

Expiry set so far out it is meaningless. A link that expires in 2031 is a permanent link with a date attached. Set it for when the work is done.

Sharing the folder when the file was wanted. A password on the “Clients” folder is a password protecting every client at once. Share the specific file or subfolder.

Assuming download off means secure. It does not. It stops the save button. Treat it as a courtesy, not a control.

Never reviewing old links. Even with good habits, links accumulate. Once in a while, look at the list of what you have shared and delete anything you no longer need live. Expiry dates mean most of it will have switched itself off already, which is the point.

When links are the wrong tool entirely

Some situations should not be a link at all, however well protected:

• Someone who needs to add or change files. Links are view-only; share with the person and give edit permission.
• A team working on many files over time. Set up a workspace with roles rather than managing a pile of links. Workspaces for small teams explains the setup.
• Anything where you must be able to say exactly who has seen it. A password tells you someone had the password. A named share tells you who.

Next step

Open your drive, find the last link you sent that contained anything you would not want public, and look at its settings. If it has no expiry, set one. If it is still needed, that is fine; if it is not, delete it. Then, the next time you create a link, set the expiry before you copy it. That single habit does more for your security than almost anything else in sharing.