Read-Only Link
Definition
A read-only link hands over the content and nothing else. The recipient sees the document, the deck or the site; they cannot edit the source, rename it, replace a version or see the account it came from. In collaborative tools this is a setting you toggle per share, sitting beside comment and edit access. On a static host it is not a setting at all, because it is the only thing on offer: the server answers requests with a copy of a file and has no write path a visitor could reach. The important qualifier is that read-only is not the same as private. Anyone holding the address can open it, save the file, screenshot it or forward it, and nothing about the link itself stops them.
Why It Matters
Confusing the two costs people real money. A team sends a read-only link to a pricing sheet, assumes read-only means confidential, and finds it circulating among competitors a month later, because the one thing the link never did was check who was asking. The reverse mistake wastes time instead: sending an editable document to a client who only needed to look, then spending an hour reconciling the tracked changes they made by accident. Decide separately what people can do and who may reach it, and choose one control for each.
How It Works
Serving a file read-only requires no mechanism — a GET returns bytes, and there is no PUT or POST route to your stored copy, so the original cannot be touched. Restricting who may reach it is the separate job, and it uses a different set of tools: an unguessable slug raises the cost of stumbling on it, a password-protected link puts a form in front of the bytes, and an expiring link stops answering after a set time or date. On 99helpers the uploaded file stays in your account with its full version history, and the public address serves whatever version is current; you can roll back or replace it without the link ever changing. What you cannot do on any static host is stop a determined viewer from keeping a copy of what they were shown.
Real-World Example
A recruitment consultant needs a candidate pack in front of four hiring managers without it being forwarded to the wider team. She publishes the 6 MB PDF at hiring-pack-q3.99helpers.site, sets a password, and gives it a 14-day expiry. The managers read it in a browser, no one can alter the file, and after the shortlist meeting the address stops resolving. Two weeks later a forwarded copy of the link reaches someone outside the process and shows nothing at all.
Common Mistakes
- ✕Treating read-only as confidential — the link restricts editing, not access, and anyone who receives it can open it
- ✕Sending a live editing link because it was the first button in the share menu — recipients then edit the master copy while reviewing it
- ✕Assuming a viewer cannot keep the content — anything rendered in a browser can be saved, printed or captured
Related Terms
Access Control
The rules deciding who may reach a file or page and what they may do once they are there. It combines proving identity with checking permission, and the two are separate jobs.
Link Sharing
Link sharing means sending someone a web address that points at your file, rather than sending a copy of the file itself. One address, one source of truth, any number of recipients.
Password-Protected Link
A hosted address that asks for a shared secret before it will show the file or site behind it. One password covers everyone who has the link; there are no individual accounts.
Expiring Link
A shareable address that stops serving its file after a set moment — a date, a number of days, or a number of downloads. The file stays stored; only the route to it closes.
Shareable Link
A shareable link is the address you hand to another person so they can reach a file you have hosted. It normally points at a page that presents the file — name, size, a download button — rather than at the raw bytes.
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