Today we’re adding an important new feature to the Proton Drive beta. You can now share any Proton Drive file with anyone by using a secure, shareable link. If you need to share sensitive material, you can require the link’s recipient to enter a password before they can access the file.

This year has seen an unprecedented shift to online and remote work, which clearly demonstrated the need for a cloud storage service that protects its users’ data. Proton Drive, our new storage service, uses end-to-end encryption to ensure no third parties (not even Proton) can access your personal files. 

Learn more about Proton Drive’s security 

How to share files in Proton Drive

You can share the files you have on Proton Drive with family, friends, and colleagues by creating a publicly shareable, secure URL in Proton Drive. To create a link, select the file you want to share and then click the link button in the toolbar.

This will bring up the Share with link options window.

By default, Proton Drive will generate a password that is included in the link. This way, anyone who clicks the link will be taken to a landing page where they can download the file. 

The file you shared remains encrypted until it reaches the device of the person who clicked the link.

Password-protected shareable links

If you share a sensitive file, you can choose to protect your shareable links with a password by simply checking the box Password protection.

The file-sharing process works the same, except whoever clicks one of these links is taken to a landing page where they must enter the password you set. Only then will they be able to download your file. 

To maintain security, we advise you share the password with your intended recipient via an end-to-end encrypted messaging service, like ProtonMail or Signal.

You can also disable any file-sharing link you have created at any time by selecting the file that has been shared and then clicking the Sharing option button in the toolbar. This will bring up the Share with link window. (You can also get to this window by right-clicking the file you shared and selecting Sharing option) To disable the link, click Stop sharing in the bottom corner.

Link sharing is currently enabled for individual files. However, if you need to share multiple files, you can create a ZIP folder and share that using a secure Proton Drive link. In the future, we will add the ability to share entire Proton Drive folders as well. 

File sharing is an important milestone for Proton Drive

End-to-end encrypted file sharing is an essential step for Proton Drive, and makes it much easier for you to share content with your friends and family and for teams to collaborate on projects. With this new file-sharing feature, you can share sensitive documents while keeping them securely encrypted with only a couple clicks.

Going forward, we plan to add Proton Drive apps for Android and iOS to make it even easier for you to securely access your files on your mobile devices. 

How to access Proton Drive

Many paid ProtonMail users have already received early access to the Proton Drive beta. These users include anyone with a:

Lifetime plan
Visionary plan
ProtonMail Plus and ProtonVPN Plus plan bundle on a one- or two-year billing cycle
ProtonMail Professional with a ProtonVPN Plus plan bundle

If you have one of these subscriptions, you can go to drive.protonmail.com and sign in using your ProtonMail login credentials.

Our mission is to build an internet that puts people first. If having an internet that promotes security, privacy, and freedom is important to you, consider signing up for one of our paid plans.

Tell us what you think of our file-sharing feature

Your feedback and comments on Proton Drive and its new file-sharing feature are invaluable. They help us improve Proton Drive so that we can make the secure cloud storage system you want. 

You can send us your comments and feedback on Proton Drive inside the web app during the beta. You can also email us at drive@protonmail.com.

To report issues, click Help > Report bug.

If you have any questions about this beta, please let us know.