How to password protect a file share link

How to password protect a file share link is a common need the moment the work is not meant for the open web: a wedding gallery, a pitch deck, unreleased audio, a cut the press should not see. Hiding the URL is not enough. URLs get forwarded.

On Spike the folder starts private. When you enable a share, you choose how people get in. Password is the setting for "the people I briefed." Public is the setting for a link you are willing to put on a storefront or bio.

A secret URL is not a password

Unlisted links work until they are copied into a group chat. A passphrase in a separate message (or in the booking email) means the person who only has the URL still cannot open the page. That is the whole feature.

• Client galleries you do not want indexed or passed to a cousin.
• Unreleased music, trailers, or lookbooks.
• Legal, medical-adjacent, or HR packs that should stay named.
• Anything you might later put a price on, but not today.

How to set it on Spike

1. 01

   Keep the folder private until you are ready

   Nothing is on the public web until you enable a share. Upload first. Decide access second.

2. 02

   Set privacy to Password

   Choose a passphrase. Send it in a channel that is not the same paste as the URL, when you can.

3. 03

   Layer preview rules if the files are valuable

   Blur stills, clip video, limit PDF pages. Password gets them in. Protection decides what they can take. See blur and watermark.

Password plus selling

A paid client gallery is often both: only the couple should see it, and they should pay before the print files unlock. That is not two products. It is privacy plus a paid download link on the same folder.

Expiry and plans

Free-plan share links last three days. Pro and Business can leave the link up, or set 1, 3, 7, 14, or 30 days. The password stays with the folder settings until you change it. For the wider model, read how to share files with clients.

A password is cheap insurance on work that is easy to forward and expensive to redo. It does not replace a private library. It does not replace blur. It is the extra lock on the door after you have already decided the folder should exist at all.

If the recipient is a whole team, send the passphrase to one named person and let them pass it on. If the recipient is a couple, put the password in the booking email, not in the same SMS as the URL. Small habits keep accidental forwards from becoming a public gallery.

You can rotate the passphrase after the first viewing if you are handing selects to a retoucher next. The folder does not move. Only the door code does. That is easier than issuing a new transfer every time the set of people changes. Treat the password as a session, not as a secret you never touch again.