Free plan

Sharing without an account

Upload and share a document without signing up, then claim it into an account for readership reporting and library features.

You can upload and share a document without creating an account. The file is encrypted and shareable by link as soon as the upload completes. You can then claim it into an account to gain readership reporting, a library entry, and the settings your plan allows.

Uploading anonymously

An anonymous upload works like an ordinary upload: you select a PDF (or a Word or PowerPoint file, which is converted to PDF in flight), configure sharing options, and receive a shareable link. Anonymous uploads use the Free tier's size cap. The file is encrypted and stored on EveryPage's servers for 365 days, and anyone with the link can view it immediately—no account required on either side.

Anonymous uploads are created in an unclaimed state. This means the document does not appear in your library, you cannot see who reads it, and you have no access to readership reports or settings like password protection. The file is purely public-by-link.

What you can do without signing in

From the same browser session where you uploaded the file, you can:

  • Share the link, generate a QR code, or embed the document
  • Download the PDF
  • Change the viewer mode (standard, flipbook, magazine, swipe)

Changing the viewer mode is the only setting the uploading browser session can change before the document is claimed. Everything else—readership reporting, a library entry, expiry dates, passwords, watermarks, and lead-capture gates—requires claiming the document into an account.

The one-year retention window

Anonymous uploads are kept for 365 days from upload. After that window, the file expires and the link stops working. This gives you time to share widely and decide whether to claim it.

If you claim the document into an account before it expires, the expiry date is preserved. Claiming does not reset the timer or extend the window—it simply transfers the document into your ownership at its existing deadline.

Claiming the document

You claim an anonymous upload by signing up or logging in from the same browser session. When you complete signup or login, EveryPage automatically attaches the document to your new or existing account.

Once claimed, the document:

  • Appears in your library, keeping the expiry it already had (a Pro owner can then set it to never expire)
  • Unlocks readership reports, subject to your plan's tier
  • Becomes editable: depending on your plan you can add a password, change the expiry, add a watermark, capture leads, enable comments, and more
  • Counts toward your plan's active-file cap (Free: 3 files, Basic: 100 files, Pro: unlimited)

If the claim would push you over your plan's active-file cap, it is refused and the document stays unclaimed. Free a slot or upgrade, then sign in again to complete the claim.

Signing in from a different browser or device does not automatically claim the document, because the session flags are browser-local. To claim on a different device, open the claim link (/api/claim?token=...) built from the claim token in the original upload response.

Rate limits

Anonymous uploads have two safeguards against abuse:

  • Per-uploader cap: one uploader can hold up to 20 live unclaimed uploads at a time. The uploader is a pseudonymous identifier derived from the IP address by a salted HMAC — the address itself is never stored. Claiming, expiry, deletion, or moving to trash frees a slot. Exceeding the cap returns 429.
  • Per-IP rate limit: the upload endpoint is rate-limited by IP.

Tokens and programmatic access

When you upload anonymously, the response includes two tokens:

  • Claim token — a 30-day credential that attaches the file to an account, either by opening GET /api/claim?token=... in a browser or by posting it to POST /api/v1/files/claim with an API bearer credential. The Canva import path also uses claim tokens.
  • Manage token — a 30-day bearer credential that authorizes PUT /api/v1/files/{uuid}/settings on the anonymous file before it is claimed. It acts as an unauthenticated caller, so it can only set the fields available on the Free tier; content replacement stays closed to it. Once you claim the document, the manage token no longer works.

Both tokens are HMAC-signed and stateless—they carry no server-side state and expire after 30 days whether or not they are used. You cannot extend them.

See also