What it is for
When someone sends you a LinkDrop link, you can keep a copy of the document in your own LinkDrop account instead of a loose PDF in your downloads. Saved copies live under Shared with you. They remember who sent them and which version you have, and when the sender publishes a newer version, the copy tells you and lets you add it.
Saving a copy
Choose Save to my LinkDrop account in either of these places:
- On a document link that allows downloads, next to Download PDF. On a phone or other narrow screen, it is in the viewer's menu. You sign in with Google first if you are not already.
- On a download the sender approved for you: the Approved · Download window on the share page, or the link in the approval email.
On a document link that allows downloads, signing in with Sign in with Google under Introduce yourself also saves a copy: you come back to the link and the copy is added.
Saving does not use one of the 5 downloads an approval allows, and the copy stays yours even if the sender later takes the approval back. On a project link, you can save a document only through a download the sender approved for you. See If you received a link for how download requests work.
Finding your copies
- Shared with you appears in the left sidebar, after Docs, once you have at least one copy. It lists the newest 10; when you have more, See more opens the full page.
- The Shared with you page lists every copy. Search with Search by title or sender, and change the order with Sort: Newest saved, Oldest saved, Title A–Z or Sender. Sender groups copies under a heading per sender.
- Each row shows the title, the version, who sent it, when you saved it and, when there is one, a newer-version offer (below).
- Click the title to open the copy's page. The … menu has Open PDF, Download PDF and Remove.
Removing a copy
Choose Remove from the row's … menu, or from the Shared with you card on the copy's page. You are asked "Remove this copy from your account? You can restore it from Recently deleted for 30 days." Confirm with Remove.
To bring it back, restore it from Recently deleted on your Dashboard within 30 days. See Dashboard and account.
What you can't do with a copy
A copy is someone else's document, so it is for reading, downloading and removing only:
- It can't be shared. You get no share links for it.
- It can't get new versions from a PDF you upload. Only the original's own newer versions can be added (below).
- It can't be added to a project.
To do any of that, upload the PDF as your own document. See Managing your documents.
Copies do not count toward the Free plan's 10 shared documents. Their PDFs do count toward your workspace's PDF storage. See Credits and plans.
When the original has a newer version
A copy keeps the version you saved. When the sender publishes a newer one, the copy's row (and its page) says so. What you see depends on the link you saved it from:
- Version N available · Update: the link allows downloads. Update opens a window comparing Your copy with The original and listing what changed, page by page, from the text of the two versions. Click Update to add it. You can tick Don't show this again to skip this window next time.
- A newer version exists · Request it: the sender approves downloads on this link. Request it opens Request the latest version? with an optional Why do you need it? note (up to 300 characters) that the sender sees. Click Send request. The row then reads "Requested · waiting for" and the sender's name.
- Version N approved · Add to my copy: the sender approved it. Click Add to my copy, review what changed, then confirm with Add to my copy.
- Approval taken back · Request again: the sender took back an approval before you added it. You can ask again.
- Up to date: your copy already holds the latest version.
Updating adds the new version to your copy; the version you had stays in its history. See Versions and history. If the link has a password, you are asked for it before the update goes ahead.
If the link has been turned off, has expired or the original was archived or deleted, or the sender took back the approval you saved the copy under, the copy shows no offer at all. The copy you have stays as it is.
What the sender sees
A request for the latest version reaches the sender in their notifications as your name followed by "wants the latest version of" the document, and by email with the subject your name followed by "wants the latest version of" the document. They approve or decline it, as with a download request. You are told the outcome in your notifications.
Your requests
In your own workspace, Activity has a Your requests chip. It lists every download request and latest-version request you made while signed in with that email address, and how each one went: Sent, Approved, Declined, Taken back, No answer and Downloaded. A request you made signed out, then claimed by signing in with that address, reads "a request from your address". The sender never sees these rows. See Activity.
Saving a copy and adding a newer version to it show in Activity under Documents.
Limits
- An unanswered request closes after 14 days. You get an email saying so, and you can ask again straight away.
- You can make up to 3 requests an hour for one link or copy, and 20 an hour across all documents. After that you are asked to try again a little later.