Spotlight #2: External File Sharing on Zoho WorkDrive

Spotlight #2: External File Sharing on Zoho WorkDrive

Hello all,

We are back again with another feature in the spotlight for Zoho WorkDrive.



Zoho WorkDrive is a content collaboration platform designed specifically for teams to store, share, manage, and work together on files of any size. In this article, we’ll focus on how securely you can share your WorkDrive files and folders with external users or any specific individuals outside your teams.

Business scenario:

Michonne, a Marketing Manager, laid a marketing campaign plan for an upcoming product launch along with her team on WorkDrive. Now, she wants to send these files to David, one of her business partners, and seek feedback from him to help improve on her work. However, she knows David is not part of her team on WorkDrive and wants to find a system where she can send these files securely and safely.
 
So, what is she doing now? She decides to use WorkDrive's External Share feature: the easiest way to share confidential files and folders to users outside your team or organization.
 

What is external file sharing?

It's the easiest and safest way to share files with people outside your organization such as external partners, customers, and vendors. With WorkDrive's external sharing system, you can send files/folders with an individual or a group of people, secure them with passwords and expiry dates and decide who can download shared files.

External file sharing is transferring data between users or organizations. It's especially useful when working with contacts such as clients, or vendors.
 

Benefits of using external file sharing on WorkDrive:

  • Secure Files with Passwords: You can add passwords when you share confidential files using links. Anybody who tries to open the link will have to provide the password you've set for the file.

  • Set Expiration Periods for Accessing Links: Sometimes your team makes deals with clients for a fixed period. You can set expiration periods for the links you share to ensure that they won't have access to your files once the contract ends.

  • Allow file Downloads: You can decide on whether to allow or restrict users from downloading a file while sharing it. 

  • Request User Data: As an added layer of security, every file shared externally can be tracked, allowing you to see when your clients view the document. You can request them to enter details like name, contact or email id, in order to access the document.

  • Share Larger Files: The need to share large files arises in many business environments, from extensive written documents to files heavy with video or image content. File sharing allows you to avoid the inconvenience of reaching the point at which file transfer becomes a hindrance.



So, how is external sharing done in WorkDrive?

1. Right-click to select the file or folder you want to share externally and select Share.
2. Click New external sharelink. and enter a custom URL for your file in the text box.



3. Enable link properties according to your preference such as adding a password, expiry date or providing access to download your file. 
4. Once done, click Create. The link will be created and appear at the bottom of the Share dialog. 
5. Finally, click Copy Link and send it via email.

We hope this article is useful. Start sharing links to files, set access privileges, and protect your data with passwords while enabling secure collaboration with external users around the globe. 

Follow WorkDrive's Community to stay connected and updated on every product updates in the series. 
If you have any queries, please leave a reply below or contact support@zohoworkdrive.com. 

 
Collaborate to Innovate!

    • Recent Topics

    • Custom templates for calendar report

      What about being able to design custom templates for the calendar report, as well as for other types of reports? I think more users are waiting for this.

    • Print a price list or price book

      Hi Community. Am I right in concluding that Zoho has no functionality to print a price list from either Zoho CRM, Zoho Inventory or Zoho Books? I won't get stuck on the fact that Zoho doesn't sync price books between Zoho CRM and Books/Inventory (more

    • Disable payment thank-you emails

      Hello, can someone please tell me how to disable sending of the "Payment Thank-You" emails? 

    • Maximum tags possible in Contacts Records

      I read in some documentation that Zoho allows a total of 200 tags across all records. Is this correct? So is it not possible to have one tag per record for 500 records?

    • Any way to "Pay with Check" or "Refund with Check" for Credit Notes?

      When we have a Bill in Zoho Books, we can select the "Pay with Check" option which then allows us to print/cut the check directly out of Zoho Books. When we created a Credit Note and want to refund the customer, is there any way to Refund with Check,

    • CRM Mobile reports

      When our engineers finish a job they like to email the customer a job report. This is best done todate as an email template but we can find no way to include an image field from that module. Is there any other options?

    • When Zoho Tables Beta will be open to EU data center

      Hello all, We in EU are looking at you all using and testing and are getting jealous :) When we will be able to get into the beta also? We don't mind testing and playing with beta software. Thank you!

    • Start Form on a different page (i.e., hide form pages)?

      I have a Zoho form that uses the `Field Alias - Prefill URL` feature. My goal is to have a pre-filled field that directs the user to a specific starting page in the form. For example: The URL will have a field alias that will auto-populate a field with

    • How can we disable "My Requests"?

      We are not using this functionality in our system at all and our users get confused.

    • PayPal payment received recording problem

      Hi, A little while back one of our customers used the PayPal payment option to pay an invoice For some reason though the payment is showing up twice within the Payments section of the invoice! Instead of setting the invoice value to ZERO, it now shows a negative value Anyone else face this problem? I've checked PayPal and there is only 1 payment in reality... A bug? Actonia ps: for anyone from Zoho Customer Service or tech team,  its Invoice 785 in our account

    • string(87) "{"code":"INVALID_TOKEN","details":{},"message":"invalid oauth token","status":"error"} " grtting this error

      Using access token i am trying to add sales orders through api but it is throwing errors like the above i have mentioned. Please help me for that

    • How to mute chat notification sound by default in Zoho SalesIQ?

      We’ve recently embedded the Zoho SalesIQ chatbot on our website, and we’ve noticed that notification sounds sometimes play even when the visitor hasn’t interacted with the chat widget yet. We’re trying to understand two things: Why do these sounds occur

    • Kanban View for Projects.

      At our organization, we describe active projects with various statuses like "In Proofing" or "Printing" or "Mailing". In the Projects view, one can set these project statuses by selecting from the appropriate drop-down. While this works, it's difficult to view and comprehend the progress of all of your projects relative to each other in a table. Creating a Kanban view for projects where I can move them from one status to another allows me to see where each project is in the order of our workflow.

    • How to Hide Article Links in SalesIQ Answer Bot Responses

      I have published an article in SalesIQ, and the Answer Bot is fetching the data and responding correctly. However, it is also displaying the article link, which I don’t want. How can I remove the link so that only the message is shown?

    • Add RECURRING option when adding email to calendar events

      When you add an email to a calendar event, there is no option to make that new calendar event into a recurring event.  It is counterproductive to make an event from your email to then have to go to your calendar, find the event, and make it recurring. 

    • Using Contains as a filter

      We are using Zoho Reports, ServiceDesk Plus analytics. I do not see how to create a report filter using Contains comparison of a string values, is one string contained in another. For example, Task Title contains the word Monitor. Is this possible in Zoho Reports?  This reporting feature is available in SDP reporting. Thanks in advance, Craig Rice

    • LINE Auto Message Connect to Zoho

      When I integrated LINE into the CRM, I was prompted to disable “Chat,” “Auto Response,” and “Greeting Messages,” and to enable the webhook. However, since I have already set up some auto-reply features in LINE, including Rich Messages and greeting automation,

    • Option to block bookings from specific email address or ip adresss in zoho booking

      Sometime few of our client keep booking irrelevant booking service just to resolve their queries and they keep booking it again and again whenever they have queries. Currently its disturbing our current communication process and hierarchy which we have

    • Threaded conversations for emails sent via automation

      Hi Guys, I hope you are doing well. Don't you guys think we should have an option in a workflow to notify users either as a new email or the previous email thread. For example, if you have one deal in the process and there are 10 different stages during

    • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

      The address field will be available exclusively for IN DC users. We'll keep you updated on the DC-specific rollout soon. It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition. Managing addresses

    • Create folder is fetch fails

      coming from zapier... zapier has a google drive task that searches for a specific folder in google drive, and if it fails to find the folder it will create a folder based on the search criteria, and contine along the singluar path of the flow. Trying

    • Meetups de Usuarios de Zoho - Noviembre 2025

      ¡Hola, Comunidad! Durante el mes de noviembre celebraremos los Meetups de usuarios de Zoho, encuentros presenciales pensados para quienes queráis mejorar vuestras estrategias de lead nurturing y aprender a sacar el máximo partido a herramientas como Zoho

    • Introducing 7 New Connectors in Zoho DataPrep!

      We’ve just made data management even easier - Zoho DataPrep now supports 7 new external connectors to help you build more robust, scalable ETL pipelines. Why it matters: ✅ Broader data access ✅ More automation, less manual work ✅ Smarter pipelines, better

    • Sales Order, Invoice and Payment numbers

      Hi zoho friends, it is me again, the slow learner. I'm wondering if there is a way to have it so the Sales order, invoice and payment numbers are all the same? It would be easier for me if they were the same number so there is not so many reference numbers

    • Missing information data Zoho inventory

      there some missing data in Zoho inventory connection. pick list stock counts bin location we have requested it via mail and the support team doesn’t gove feedback. has anyone achieve to get these info or to ask other ya les

    • First day of trying FSM in the field.

      What we found. 1. with out a network connection we were unable to start a service call? 2. if you go to an appointment and then want to add an asset it does not seem possible. 3. disappointed not to be able to actually take a payment from within the app

    • Zoho Desk app update: AI powered features

      Hello everyone! We’ve introduced various AI-powered services on the Zoho Desk app. Let's take a look at what's new. Generate Content: Generate Content uses AI to formulate responses based on the your query and provides a ready-to-use reply which can be

    • How to Automate Email Sequence

      I'm having trouble trying to set up a workflow to automate an email sequence. Once a group of emails in a Task has been tagged by a certain tag, I want an instant email template to be sent. After 7 days with no response, another email template would be

    • Turning off the new UI

      Tried the new 'enhanced' UI and actively dislike it. Anyone know how to revert back?

    • Zoho Sprints Android v2.0.4 app update: Item reminders, archive Epics, Kanban projects, Epic progress

      Hello everyone! In the latest version(v2.0.4) of the Zoho Sprints Android app update, we have introduced various new features. Let's take a look at what's new! Item Reminder Stay organized and never miss an important date with the all-new Item Reminder

    • Credit Management: #3 Setting Credit Limit for Customers

      Think about that one familiar customer of yours who always buys on credit. They usually pay on time, maybe a little late here and there, but not alarming. So, you are fine saying, "Sure, pay later." Then, one day, they place a significantly bigger order

    • Canvas View in Zoho Recruit

      Is it possible or would it be possible to have the new 'Canvas View' in Zoho Recruit?

    • Adding Reports to Portals

      Is there a way to add Reports to portals so only the user can see report templates relevant to them?

    • Update on the client portal URL for Guest users

      We’re updating the way Guest users access their Connect network. As part of this change, all client organization portals used by Guest users will now be accessible through a dedicated domain specific to each data center. The access URLs mentioned here

    • Preserve Ticket Issue Mapping When Migrating from Jira to Zoho Projects

      Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We are currently exploring a full migration from Jira to Zoho Projects, and we identified a critical limitation during the migration process involving Zoho Desk integration. Current Situation: We use

    • Enhancements to Zoho Maps integration tasks

      Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Maps integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need to

    • Unable to see Zoho contacts in Zoho app on ios

      Hi Support Team, I am a new user, I have created my account and installed zohomail app on iOS 16 which works. I was also able to import my Gmail contacts into Zoho Contacts, which I can see. The problem is that I can’t see these imported cobalts in Zohomail

    • Task Due Date greater than 10 years.

      We use recurring tasks in Projects where every week, month, year etc Some of our projects are greater than 10 years and we are unable to set a new due date because the difference between start date and due date is greater than 10 years. As an example

    • External User onboarding for zoho connect is not really intuitive.

      So the external user is sent an invite, which has a button that directs them to login to zoho to view the invite, but if they don't have a zoho account, they cannot access that invite, which seems kinda silly, as there is not real way on for them to create

    • Hosting external websites on Zoho?

      How can I host my external website on zoho? Do we have that option? I am currently with hostinger and am looking to switch to zoho. Kindly help. Thanks.

    • Next Page