Send a PDF by link, not as an attachment
PDFGym cannot create the link, because it never uploads your file and so has nowhere to keep it. The address has to come from storage you control: a cloud drive, your email service's large-file option or your employer's file share. What PDFGym can do is get the document ready first, smaller, free of hidden details and locked with a password if needed.
A 60 MB inspection report and a Monday meeting
Marek inspects roofs for a small building firm. After a Friday survey he has roof-survey-hill-street.pdf: 38 pages, 120 photos, around 60 MB. The homeowner and her insurer both need it before they meet on Monday morning, and his mail service bounces an attachment that heavy.
A link solves the size problem but shifts control of the file. Once it sits on a server with an address, whoever holds the address may be able to open it, the report's hidden properties go along, and the photos make it slow to load on a phone. Each of those can be handled on his own computer before anything is uploaded.
Why there is no share button here
Every PDFGym tool runs inside your browser tab. The document is read from your disk, processed on your computer and saved back to it. No copy reaches a PDFGym server. That is the design, not an oversight.
A share link is the reverse arrangement: a server stores the file and serves it to anyone who opens the address. So the link has to come from a service built for storage. Treat any site that offers to turn a PDF into a link without saying where the file is kept, and for how long, with suspicion.
Get the file ready in PDFGym first
- Shrink it. Open Compress PDF, pick a preset such as 2 MB or type an exact cap in KB or MB, for example 10 MB, and look at the side-by-side preview before saving. Photo-heavy reports like Marek's tend to have the most room to shrink.
- Join loose parts. If the appendices are separate files, combine them with Merge PDF so the reader gets one document behind one link.
- Clear the hidden details. Run the privacy scan on the final copy. It lists the author, software, dates, identifiers and attachments it finds, every finding starts selected, and the cleaned copy is reopened and checked before download. Do this after compressing and merging, so the scan looks at the exact copy you will send.
- Lock it if the content is private. Password protect PDF sets an open password of at least six characters, typed twice, and confirms the saved file really asks for it. Make this the last edit: the merge and metadata tools refuse a protected file.
- Upload only that finished copy to the service you picked, then set access as described below.
Services that can hold the file and give you an address
| Route | Suits | Check before you send |
|---|---|---|
| Personal cloud drive (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud Drive) | Files you may correct or share again later | Whether the link opens for anyone or only invited people, and whether the viewer page shows your account name |
| Your email service's large-file option | One-off sends; Gmail and Outlook can place an oversized attachment in Google Drive or OneDrive and insert a link instead | Which drive folder the file landed in, so you can remove it once the job is done |
| Employer's file share or document system | Anything involving clients, staff or contracts at work | Whether sharing outside the company is allowed; if the option is greyed out, ask IT rather than switching to a personal account |
| File transfer service | Large one-time deliveries to people with no account anywhere | How long the file stays available and whether it expires on its own |
Deciding who gets in
- Invite named people for anything with personal details. They sign in to open it, and a forwarded copy of the address does not work for strangers.
- Give view-only access. A PDF rarely needs edit rights, and edit access on a drive can let someone replace or delete your file.
- If the service offers an expiry date, pick one that fits the job, for example a week after the meeting.
- Send any password through a different channel from the link: a text message or a quick call.
- Open the link in a private browser window before sending, to see exactly what an outsider sees.
- Put a reminder in your calendar to switch sharing off when the file is no longer needed.
Where shared links go wrong, and the fix
Uploading the original instead of the prepared copy. With two files named almost alike, this is easy. Give the ready version a clear name, such as roof-survey-hill-street-share.pdf, and upload only that one.
Putting the password in the same message as the link. Anyone who sees the message then has both halves. Send them separately.
Breaking the link by re-uploading. Depending on the service, a corrected version may arrive as a new file with a new address. Use the service's own replace or version option if it has one; otherwise resend the new link to everyone.
Leaving it open for years. Forwarded addresses keep working as long as sharing is on. Turning sharing off is the only dependable way to stop them.
When an attachment or another channel serves you better
- For a light document going to a single reader, attaching it is less work: the file travels inside the email and no sharing setting can expire or be misconfigured. To send two documents as a single file, see emailing two PDFs as one attachment.
- A file just over the mail limit may fit after compression. Fixing a PDF that is too large for email walks through that.
- Patient records, payroll or legal evidence usually belong in the system your organisation approves, not a personal drive. Ask IT or your compliance contact.
- Some recipients sit behind networks that block consumer storage sites. Ask what they can receive; some run their own upload portal.
Short answers about sharing by link
- Does PDFGym keep a copy of my PDF after I use a tool?
- No. The file is processed inside your browser tab and saved back to your device. Nothing is sent to PDFGym, so there is nothing to delete afterwards.
- Should a PDF shared by link have a password?
- If anyone other than the intended reader could get hold of the address, yes. An open password keeps the downloaded file locked wherever it ends up. Share the password separately.
- Will the person I send it to need an account?
- That depends on the sharing setting. A link open to anyone usually needs no sign-in, while access for named people normally asks the reader to sign in with the address you invited.
- Can I see who opened the file?
- Some storage services show views or activity, particularly on work accounts. PDFGym plays no part once the file leaves your computer, so it cannot tell you.
Tools and guides for sending PDFs
- PDF privacy scan List and remove the author, dates and attachments hidden in a file.
- Compress PDF Bring a heavy file down to a size you name in KB or MB.
- Email two pdfs as one attachment When attaching still works: join two files and stay under the cap.
- PDF and Word help Guides for PDFs in mail, office apps and other software.