Receive links.

A receive link lets anyone who has it send files to a folder you choose. The sender needs no account and never sees where the files go. Receive links are included on every plan, Free mode too.

How it works

1. You create a link, choose a destination folder and set the limits.
2. You give the link to the sender by email, chat or any other way.
3. The sender opens it, drops in files or folders, and sends them.
4. Each file lands in a hidden staging area first. It moves to your folder only when the upload is complete, its checksum matches, and the virus scan passes or your scan policy allows it. Users cannot see the staging area.
5. You are told, and the sender gets a receipt.

What each plan includes

The sender's page uses your server's branding. In Free mode it shows a small Sent with Farwing badge. A license with custom branding removes the badge.

Create a link

Open the receive links page, choose to make a new link, and fill in the form. Only the name and the destination folder are needed. Every other field has the default shown here.

After you save, Farwing shows the link once. Copy it then and give it to the sender. Emails to you and to senders, such as notices, receipts and codes, go out through the server's email settings, so set those up first.

Folder names

With Subfolder per submission on, each submission goes into a new folder inside the destination. Its name comes from a template. These are all the values a template can use:

• A name that is not on this list becomes empty. A typo shows up as a missing word in the folder name, never as stray braces on disk.
• Each value is cleaned before it goes in. A slash in a sender's answer becomes an underscore, so a sender cannot make folders.
• A slash in the template itself makes a folder inside a folder. {{date}}/{{sender.email}} makes one folder per day, with one folder per sender inside it.
• A template may be up to 200 characters long.

For example, with a custom field whose ID is project, the template {{form.project}}/{{date}} {{sender.name}} puts each submission under the project the sender named.

Passcodes

A passcode is a shared secret for the whole link. The sender types it on the link's page before anything is sent. The passcode is not part of the link. Tell the sender the passcode another way, for example by phone or in a separate message, so that someone who gets the link alone cannot use it.

Sender email and the 6-digit check

By default the sender must give an email address. It is saved with the submission, shown in your list, and used for the receipt.

Switch on the email check to make sure the address is real. Farwing emails a 6-digit code to the address the sender typed, and the upload starts only when the sender types the code back. Use it when you need to know who sent a file, or when the link is public.

Limits

The server also protects every link with a rate limit per IP address and per link, and received files count toward your external traffic limits.

One-time and reusable links

• One-time: the link closes after one submission. Use it to collect one delivery from one person.
• Reusable: the link stays open for many submissions until it expires, you end it, or it reaches its lifetime size limit. Use it as a standing drop for a client or a team.

You can disable a link at any time, or end it early. Anyone who opens a link that has ended sees This link is no longer active.

What the sender sees

• Your name for the link, your message, and your branding.
• A drop area for files and folders. A dropped or picked folder keeps its structure.
• Fields for the sender's email and name, a passcode if you set one, and any custom form fields.
• Progress, speed, time left, and buttons to pause and resume.
• If Farwing Desktop is installed, an option to send at full speed with it. Otherwise the browser sends the files, and the sender is never blocked from using it.
• A receipt when the upload is done: file names, sizes and checksums, and the scan result once it is known. Farwing emails the same receipt to the sender.

The browser sends each file in parts, several at a time, and checks each part. If the page reloads or the network drops, the upload carries on where it stopped. If the browser does not allow page storage, the upload still works but cannot resume after a reload.

What the sender never sees

• The destination folder, or any path on your server.
• Other senders' files or submissions.
• Details about a blocked file. If the virus scan blocks a file, the sender sees 1 file was not accepted and nothing more. You and an administrator see the file name and the threat name.

Custom form fields

Custom form fields need a Team license or higher. In Free mode the section is greyed out. Add a field for anything you want to know with each delivery, such as a project code or a deadline. A field can be:

• Text
• Long text
• A choice from a list
• A date
• A checkbox

Mark any field as required and the sender cannot send until it is filled in. Answers are saved with the submission and shown in your Submissions list. You can use them in folder names with {{form.<field id>}}, and event rules receive them, so a rule can route files by what the sender answered.

Name clashes and safe names

• Nothing is ever overwritten. If a file with the same name is already in the folder, Farwing adds (2) before the extension, then (3) and so on. A second report.pdf becomes report (2).pdf.
• File and folder names from senders are cleaned. Characters that Windows does not allow become underscores, and control characters are removed.
• Paths with .., absolute paths, and links that point outside the storage root are never followed.

Your view: submissions

Each link has a Submissions list with the sender, the time, the form values, the files, the total size and the scan status. A scan status is Scanning…, Clean, Blocked, or Not scanned with the reason.

For each submission you can:

• Open its folder.
• Download its files.
• Send the receipt again.
• Block the sender, so that address cannot send through this link again.

Audit and automation

• Admin → Audit records when a link is created, changed or ended, and every submission.
• When all files of one submission are released into your folder, Farwing raises a receive_link.submitted event. Event rules can start on it, for example to copy the files elsewhere or post a message.
• The REST API creates, lists, changes and ends links, and lists submissions. The API is part of every paid plan.

Related

• Virus scanning for how received files are checked
• Event rules for acting on a submission
• Server admin
• Plans and licenses

Farwing docs · farwing.io