Sending large files to a client and staying in control

To send large files to a client without losing control, use a link that expires on its own, that you can revoke at any moment, and that records every download. That way you know when the files were downloaded, you can cut off access if the link reached the wrong person, and nothing stays published indefinitely.

Imagine a design studio finishing a client's brand identity: logos in several formats, the guidelines as a PDF and two presentation videos. The package is bigger than email allows, so someone uploads it to a personal cloud folder and pastes the link into a message. Three months later the link is still open, nobody remembers who created it, and the client asks whether it was ever sent.

What gets lost when sending happens outside the CRM

Almost any shared-folder service handles the size. The hard part comes later, when someone has questions about that send:

• Who sent what. The link comes from someone's personal account, and if that person leaves the company, access either stays open or disappears with them.
• How long it stays available. A shared folder does not expire while nobody closes it.
• Whether the client downloaded it. Without a record, the conversation ends in "I sent it to you" against "I never got it."
• Who received it. One forward is enough for the link to end up with the client's supplier or with someone who no longer works there.

Three questions before you send large files

First, how long your client needs to download them. For a one-off delivery, a day is usually enough. If it is material the client will consult for months, it belongs on the client's project, next to the rest of the work.

Second, who should receive it. Type the email addresses of the people who need it instead of pasting the link into a group chat. If someone else turns up later, generate another link for that person.

Third, what you will do if the link reaches the wrong person. The answer should be that you replace or revoke it yourself, right away, without asking anyone.

If what you need to send is a password or a login, with no files, use a temporary encrypted link like the one in Confidential sends.

How it works with File transfers

In AgentticCRM, File transfers opens from the + menu at the top or with Alt+S, without leaving the screen you are on. Each transfer takes up to 20 files and 2 GiB in total, of any kind: videos, designs, photos, backups or zipped folders. You can add up to 10 recipient emails and a message, or copy the link and send it however you prefer.

Before the link goes live, each file is checked to confirm it arrived complete and scanned for malware. If a threat turns up, the transfer is blocked. If your connection drops halfway through the upload, you pick the same files again and the upload continues where it left off.

Your client opens a page with your organization's name, who is sending the files, your message and the list of files with their sizes. They download each one with its own button, with no account to create or app to install, and they see how much time is left and the exact date and time the link expires.

Expire, replace or revoke the link

A link stops working in three cases: 24 hours after it became ready, when you revoke the transfer, or when you replace it with a new one. Once it expires, the page only says it is no longer available, without showing file names or any details of the transfer.

Replacing helps when the link reached the wrong person: the old links stop working and you copy a new one for the right person. Revoking cuts off access instantly and erases the files from storage. While a transfer is live it uses your plan's storage, and when it expires or you revoke it that space becomes available again.

Knowing whether your client downloaded the files

Every download is recorded in the activity log with its date and time, just like the creation and revocation of each transfer. When the client asks whether you sent it, you open the record instead of searching your inbox.

On the Transfers screen each person sees only the transfers they created, with their status, size and expiry. People with permission, such as admins and managers, see the whole team's transfers in the organization activity, read-only: who sent each one, how many files and how large they are, without file names, recipients or messages. Nobody can copy, replace or revoke another person's links.

When sending files is part of an ongoing service for several companies, as in a firm that handles the administration of many clients, each delivery should stay tied to its client's record. That case is covered in the article on administrative outsourcing with several clients.

Frequently asked questions

What if my client didn't download the files in time?

Create a new transfer with the same files and send them the new link. Each transfer lasts 24 hours from the moment it is ready, and its files are deleted afterwards.

Does it work for material the client will consult for months?

For that, leave the file on the client's project and share it in the Client portal, where it stays available next to the progress of the work. A transfer is meant for deliveries that get downloaded within a day.

Can ChatGPT or Claude send a transfer for me?

A transfer is always sent by a person on your team from their own account. What a connected ChatGPT or Claude can do is leave the file on the client's project, where your team finds it with the rest of the work.