Prerequisites
- A document already in your archive. See Upload your first documents.
- A paid plan, or a free workspace within its 30-day trial of premium features — sharing is a premium feature.
- The email address of the person you’re sharing with, if you want to limit the link to specific recipients.
Steps
- Open your archive and find the document you want to share — use quick search if you don’t remember where it is.
- Select the document and choose “Share”. You can share a whole folder the same way.
- Choose who can open the link:
- Anyone with the link — optionally protected with a password.
- Specific email recipients — each recipient confirms their email address with a one-time code before the document opens.
- People in this workspace — only signed-in members of your workspace.
- Choose “Create link”. Paperplane creates a read-only link rather than attaching the file to an email. Copy it right away — the complete link is shown only once. For specific recipients, you can also tick “Email the link to these recipients now” and let Paperplane send it.
- Manage the share afterward: the sharing dialog lists every existing link with its access mode and recipients, and you can revoke any link there.
Expected result
The recipient can view the document through the protected link — for “Anyone with the link” and “Specific email recipients” without needing a Paperplane account. The link is read-only, the original document stays in your archive, and the link keeps working until you revoke it.
Common problems
- The recipient says the link doesn’t work. Confirm you sent the current link and that it hasn’t been revoked. For “Specific email recipients”, the recipient must use an email address you entered and confirm it with the code Paperplane sends. For “People in this workspace”, the recipient must be a signed-in member of your workspace.
- I shared the wrong document. Revoke the link immediately in the document’s sharing dialog, then create a new link for the correct document.
- I need the recipient to sign the document, not just view it. Use a signature request instead of a plain share link — it walks the recipient through signing and keeps the result in your archive.