topic Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses in Sales Hub Tools

How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

schwami — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 00:31:00 GMT

I want to create a shareable link for a document but don't yet know who will click on it. Hubspot asks me to incude an email address for the person who will click on it. Do I need the email address of every person who will click on it or can I just share a placeholder email address and anyone who clicks on the link will be able to view it after entering an email address.

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

MFrankJohnson — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 14:01:20 GMT

You may use a placeholder email address and anyone who clicks on the link will be able to view it after entering an email address -- example below. However, we don't recommend doing this at scale because the tool wasn't designed to operate this way. Meaning, we've noticed that tracking notifications may be delivered inconsistently when using this 'generic link' method.

- see MFrankJohnson_Article_Portfolio.pdf

- see Upload and share documents

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

KateElizabeth — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:19:45 GMT

I'm also wondering this. I can't believe you have to add an email address. Why can't there be a "share link" that's trackable, and an option to require an email address to view doc.

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

Vishesh_Singhal — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 18:23:13 GMT

We have designed an enhancement over HubSpot Documents called CloudFiles that lets you do just this and much more. You can independently upload files, create links, track usage and optionally ask your clients to very their email (Hard ID Validation) or just enter their email (Soft ID Validation) or simply access without entering their email (no ID Validation). The app is also smart enough to know when the person is actually viewing the file and when the system has gone idle. You can try out the app from HubSpot Marketplace.

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

Rokkas — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:16:02 GMT

Where is the example of HOW to actually do it?

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

Alex_Elborn — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 16:17:24 GMT

@Rokkas If you put your email address in, you should be able to share it with other people and get notifications when they view it. This works for me anyway.

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

Assuaged — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:15:37 GMT

It would be nice if they fixed this. I would rather just provide a link to my G-Drive (with bit.ly tracking) for now or another software; it's a turn-off for people to view a document and have to enter their e-mail every time. Thank you, Hubspot Family!!

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

GudrunTh — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 16:31:51 GMT

This is still relevant today. Is there a solution out yet. We want to publish an ebook where people input information in a webform and then get routed to the pdf that we wanted to share though Hubspot. This is not possible today as the workaround would require people to input the email again in a very annoying manner. Would be very helpful to fix this!

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

JoeFromPinch — Wed, 31 May 2023 07:36:46 GMT

Hubspot team.

You have nearly the complete set of features for a form gated piece of downloadable content right here, but you have made it irrational to set up, which causes users, us, to be non confident in executing.

The main use case for housing documents inside of Hubspot, is 100%, for "Download Presentation" style soft conversions on web. You have CTAs, check, you have forms, check. I want to simply redirect the form, to the Hubspot hosted presentation doc. I should not need to set an email address when I upload my doc. I just want to generate the URL to redirect to. Because they will be Hubspot form fillers that are navigating to it, they will already be cookied.

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

spatrizi-cv — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 02:19:02 GMT

You could upload it as a File (Marketing > Files & Templates > Files), set the URL as Public and copy the link. You won't get any of the download intel that you get with Documents, not sure how important that is for your use case.

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

DianaGomez — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 16:16:12 GMT

Hi @spatrizi-cv,

Thanks for sharing an alternative 🙂

Best,

Diana

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

MScholinz — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 18:14:53 GMT

might as well use docsend at that price.

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

ChrisEustace — Thu, 22 May 2025 11:18:01 GMT

I see this thread has been active recently, and many people are frustrated with HubSpot's requirement to enter email addresses for document sharing.

For those looking for more flexible document sharing options, Box Connector offers several alternatives:

- Create public shareable links without requiring email addresses

- Generate trackable links that still provide analytics without the friction

- Set up secure sharing with optional email requirements (not mandatory)

- Create time-limited links that expire automatically for added security

This eliminates the workaround of using placeholder emails while still maintaining the tracking capabilities that make HubSpot's document system valuable. For teams that need flexible document sharing without the email requirement friction, we offer a 7-day free trial: https://boxconnector.sparkgridsoftware.com/trial HubSpot Marketplace: https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/box-connector

Re: How to share a document link without needing to provide email addresses

ChrisEustace — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 11:47:06 GMT

Totally get the frustration with HubSpot requiring email addresses just to generate a document link. If you’re looking for a more flexible way to share documents—especially when you don’t know exactly who will be accessing them—SparkGrid’s Box Connector might be worth checking out.

It lets you:

Create public or permissioned Box links without needing to input an email address
Still track views and downloads, and log that activity back to the HubSpot contact or deal timeline (if known)
Set expiration dates or password protection for added control
Share large files securely, without relying on placeholder emails or workarounds

It’s a clean way to give prospects access to the content they need—without adding friction to the process. And if you do want to collect emails later, you can layer that in with Box’s access settings or HubSpot forms. Let me know if you want a quick walkthrough!