How to password-protect a PDF you share by link.

A link password only helps if the file you send is the file you meant to send. Use a finished PDF when the layout should stay fixed. The current upload limit is 100 MB per file.

1. Open your AnyShare organization and select Upload document.
2. Choose the PDF, then select Upload document in the dialog.
3. Open it from Documents and use Preview to check pages, text, and charts before you share it.

Word, PowerPoint, Excel, CSV, and supported OpenDocument files can also be previewed. Office files are converted to a browser-friendly preview. The original stays in private storage. This guide uses a PDF because that is the file people usually mean by a password-protected link.

Open the document and select Share document. In the link dialog, the password field is optional and accepts 8 to 128 characters. Leave it blank and the link has no password.

1. Name the link for the audience, such as “Client review.” The name appears in the address, followed by a unique code.
2. Keep Verified email unless you have a reason to weaken it. A password does not tell you who opened the file.
3. Add an allowlist only when specific addresses should continue. An allowlist turns verification on.
4. Enter the password. Leave Allow downloads off unless the recipient should receive the original file.
5. Add an expiry if the link should stop on its own. Then create the share link.

Downloads are off by default. Turning them off removes the download action and blocks the original download route. It cannot prevent a screenshot. A pitch-deck walkthrough shows the same link dialog with verified email and an allowlist.

Creating the link copies the URL. AnyShare does not email the recipient, and it does not email the password. Put the link in one message and the password in another, such as a separate email or a call. A forwarded email that contains both is only as private as that email.

If you create the link from ChatGPT or Claude, set the password in AnyShare afterward. The assistant connection does not accept a password. New links default to verified email, and downloads stay off unless you change that. The ChatGPT guide covers the connection. Passwords stay in link settings.

The recipient does not need an AnyShare account. With verified email, they enter an address, request a one-time code, and choose Verify & open. The code expires after 10 minutes. If you set a password, they also enter it on that access screen. The field is labeled Document password.

An allowlist rejects any other address with “This email is not permitted to access this link.” Test one allowed address and one that is not, in a private window, before you send a confidential PDF. Verification proves access to an inbox. It does not prove legal identity.

Open Share links and edit that link. Type a new password to replace the old one, or check Remove existing password. Save. The address stays the same. People who already passed the old password need the new one the next time they open it.

To stop the link entirely, revoke it or let the expiry pass. Both are covered in how to revoke or expire a shared link. Changing the password does not affect a file someone already downloaded, and it does not encrypt the PDF stored in AnyShare.