A public share opens with a plain link. That is what makes it convenient, and it is also why a forwarded link still works. A password puts a door in front of the document: the link is no longer enough.

01Open the share you want to protect

In your account, open Public shares, then click that share. The page that opens carries the public link at the top, and its settings below.

If the share does not exist yet, the protection can also be set when you create it, under Advanced options, in the Protection block. The following steps are the same.

02Switch the password protection on

In the Access and security block, flip the Password protection switch. The setting is saved straight away, and a button appears just below it.

03Choose the password

Click Change the password. Enter the password, confirm it, save.

It is between 6 and 32 characters. Choose one you can read out over the phone: it is going to be passed on by hand, through a different channel from the link.

04Send the link and the password separately

The link goes by email, the password by phone or by message. Both in the same email is a door with its key under the mat.

05Check what your recipient sees

Open the link in a private browsing window. You will see what your recipient sees: a page asking for the password, and nothing else. Neither the name of the file, nor its preview, nor the upload date appear before that.

After three failed attempts from the same connection, the page refuses further tries for a few minutes.

06Change the password later

The same button replaces it. The new password takes effect immediately, and the people you gave the old one to no longer get through.

That is what to do when a password has travelled further than intended. The link itself does not change: there is no need to send it round again.

07Worth knowing

A protected share never comes up in search engines: Password protection overrides the indexing setting. Even if indexing is allowed on that share, it is ignored while the password is active, and the management page says so.
The password protects the link: Somebody who has the password can download the document, forward it, print it. The protection decides who comes in, it does not follow the file afterwards. For a link to stop working on a known date, give it an end date.
You cannot recover a forgotten password: It is stored hashed, like an account password: nobody can read it back, ourselves included. If it is lost, set a new one.

Password protect a public share