Share and track PDFs online

You can quickly share a link to a PDF document with others for viewing. The document shared as a link opens in any browser, on any device. The document is stored securely in Adobe Document Cloud.

Recipients get an email with a link, and they can click the link to view the document in a browser; no sign-in required.

Note:

To set up reviews for your PDF documents, see Starting a PDF review online.

Share PDFs

Steps to share a PDF:

  1. Sign in to Acrobat Web at https://documentcloud.adobe.com with your Adobe ID and password, or with your social (Facebook or Google) account.

  2. Select a file you want to share by doing one of the following:

    • In the top navigation bar, click Share, and then click Share. You can also drag and drop files to the Share tool on the page.
    Click Share

    • Click Documents > Your Documents in Adobe Acrobat home. All your files saved in your Adobe Document Cloud account are displayed. Share the file in one of the following ways:
      • Hover the cursor over a file and click Share, or click the options menu (...), and choose Share.
      • Select a file you want to share, and click Share in the right pane.
    Select file to share

  3. The sharing dialog box is displayed. Share the file using any one of the following methods:

An anonymous or public link makes the files accessible to anyone who clicks the link. Also, the detailed tracking information is not available for files shared using public links.

  1. Click Get A Link.

  2. If you want the recipients to review your document, select Allow Comments, else Deselect Allow Comments option, and then click Create Link. The selected files are uploaded to the Adobe Document Cloud and a public link is created.

    Get and create link

  3. Click Copy Linkand share the link with the recipients in an email.

The detailed tracking information is available for files shared using a personalized link to individuals.

  1. Click Share With Others. Enter the email address of whoever you’d like to receive the file.

  2. The Subject and Message fields are just like the ones you use for sending an email and appear to your recipients in the same way. Enter desired information.

  3. If you want the recipients to review your document, select Allow Comments, else Deselect Allow Comments option, and then click Send. Your recipients get an email notifying them that the file is shared with them.

    Invite people by email

Recipients experience

Recipients get an email notifying them that the file is shared with them. The email contains the Open button and a link to the shared document. Clicking the link or the button opens the document in a browser. Recipients can also download the document if necessary.

 See the example screenshot below showing the email notification received by a recipient.  

Received link in email
The email notification with a link to the shared document

Track shared files

When the recipient views the file, you get a notification in Adobe Acrobat and an email. To view and track all the files shared for viewing, do the following:

  1. In the top-menu bar of Adobe Acrobat home, click Document Shared By You. All the files shared by you are displayed along with the following information:

    • Name : Name of the file shared for review.
    • Sharing: Names of the people with whom you have shared the file.
    • Status: Shows the number of people who have viewed the file.
    • Last Activity: The timestamp of the last activity performed on file.
    Operations on shared files

  2. To view the details of a file, select the file. In the right pane, you can perform any of the following actions:

    • Share the file with more recipients. Expand the recipient list. Click Invite People, enter the email address of the recipient you want to share the file with, and then click Send Invitation.
    • View the activity and timestamp on the shared file. Expand Activity to view the details like Sent To, and Viewed by the recipients.
    • Unshare File if you would like to prevent anyone else from viewing or downloading the file.
    • Copy Shared Link to copy the link and share it with other recipients.
    • Download the file to save it to your local machine.
    • Delete Shared File deletes the file permanently from Adobe Document Cloud.
    Note:

    Effective December 1st 2020, the tracking and notification feature will no longer apply to the download of shared files.

    Shared file details

Unshare or delete shared files


In the top menu bar of Adobe Acrobat home, click Document Shared By You. Select the files you want to unshare or delete. In the right pane, do the following:

  • To unshare the shared files, click Unshare Files.
  • To delete the shared files, click Delete Shared Files.
Unshare or delete shared files

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Adobe MAX 2024

Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online