How to Send a PDF to a Client: Attach It or Send a Link?

Updated

A report stands on a pale blue base with a blue corner tab, while three identical smaller copies, one on an envelope, carry a gray tab.

Attach the PDF if it won’t change and fits comfortably in an email. Send a link if you may correct it, it will be forwarded, or it’s too big to attach, and only after checking that the link opens without a sign-in.

An attachment gives your client a copy of this version. A link gives them a place to read the current version.

When to attach

Attach when:

  • the PDF won’t change;
  • your client needs the file itself, for example for a system or submission that only accepts files;
  • it fits. A personal Gmail account allows 25 MB per email (on a work or school account, your admin sets the limit), and above that Gmail replaces the attachment with a Google Drive link. Attachments also grow by about a third in transit, and your client’s mail server may accept less than yours sends. If the file is close to the limit, save a smaller copy first (in Acrobat Pro, Compress PDF; or export again at a lower image quality) and check the pages with photos or charts.

An attachment keeps working whatever happens to your copy later, but it’s frozen: a correction means sending a new file.

Check that you really attached it. In Outlook, a small cloud icon on the attachment means it’s being shared from OneDrive or SharePoint; choose “Attach as copy” to send the file itself. Acrobat’s Share button can send a link or the file, so check which one you picked.

Send a link when at least one of these is true:

  • You may need to correct it. You replace the file behind the link, and your client keeps reading from the same place.
  • It will be forwarded. A report goes to a partner or a board; brand guidelines go to a web designer and a printer. Forwarded attachments multiply copies; a forwarded link points everyone to one place. Anyone who has it can open it, so if that’s a problem, share with named people instead and expect each of them to sign in.
  • It will be read in more than one place, such as a phone between meetings and a laptop later. A link works on both, with nothing to save.
  • It’s too big to attach. Set the link up on purpose rather than letting Gmail create one for you.

If none of the four apply, attach. A link also costs something: it depends on its sharing setting, your account, and the file staying where it is.

The failure to look for is a sign-in screen: your client is asked to log in, request access, or verify their email. In your own signed-in browser the link looks fine, so you only see this if you check.

  1. Set the link so anyone who has it can view. In Google Drive: General access → “Anyone with the link,” role Viewer. Viewers can download by default. In OneDrive: Share, then set the link to “Anyone” with “Can view.”
  2. Expect a work or school account to be restricted. Your organization’s admin can block sharing outside it, and then the “anyone” option is missing or doesn’t work.
  3. Open it as your client would, in a private window on your computer and a private tab on your phone. Scroll to the last page and download it.
  4. Share the PDF, not the folder it sits in. A folder link shows everything inside, including drafts and notes.

If you can’t get it to open that way, attach the file. The sharing steps for Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and a phone are in how to create a link to a PDF.

Replacing the file behind a link changes what the link shows. It doesn’t change the copies your client already downloaded, saved to their phone, or forwarded as attachments. So:

  • Put the version and date on the cover page, for example “v1 — 28 September 2026.” Every copy then shows whether it’s current.
  • Leave the version number out of a linked file’s name. After a replacement, a file called …-v1.pdf can end up showing v2. Keep version numbers in the names of attachments, where each file really is one version.
  • Replace the file in place, not beside it. In Google Drive: More → Manage versions → Upload new version. In OneDrive, upload the new file with the same name to the same folder and choose Replace. Then check the cover through the link, signed out.
  • Tell your client what changed, in one line.

Example: a strategy document that gets corrected

An illustrative example.

Nadia is an independent brand strategist. Her client, Tom, runs two veterinary clinics and reads email on his phone. He’ll forward her strategy to his business partner this week and to a web designer next month.

The deliverable is Brand-Strategy.pdf: 32 pages, 14 MB, text and charts, approved, with “v1 — 28 September 2026” on the cover. Her drafts and interview notes stay in her working folder.

If she attaches it: 14 MB is under Gmail’s limit, so it will usually arrive. Two days later she spots last year’s price on page 18 and sends v2 as a new attachment. Tom now has two PDFs in his inbox, his partner has only v1, and the web designer gets whichever one Tom forwards next month.

If she sends a link: she puts only the final PDF in a separate “Delivered” folder, sets the PDF so anyone with the link can view, and opens the link in a private window and on her phone before sending:

Here’s the final brand strategy: [link]

It opens in your browser. Download it if you’d like a copy for your records. If I ever correct anything, it will be at this same link, and the version on the cover will change.

When she finds the page-18 error, she uploads v2 as a new version of the same file, checks the link signed out, and writes: “Page 18 corrected. Same link; the cover now says v2.” The partner and the web designer get v2. Tom’s downloaded copy still says v1 on the cover, so he can tell it’s out of date.

Her choice: the link, because it will be forwarded and may need correcting. The cost: if she moves the folder, changes its sharing, or loses the account, Tom’s link stops working. For a one-page summary that won’t change, she’d attach.

Where Litehost fits

Litehost gives you a link to finished work that is separate from the drive where you made it. That helps when your work account won’t share outside your organization, or when you don’t want your client’s link to depend on how your working drive is organized. The link then depends on your Litehost plan.

  • Your client doesn’t need an account to open a public Litehost link. The PDF opens in the browser, with a Download button.
  • Replacing the file keeps the same link. This 37-second video shows a replacement.
  • Try it first: drop a PDF of up to 2 MB into the box at the end of this page and open the link on your phone. That quick link lasts about 15 minutes unless you sign in to keep it.
  • Plans: a new account gets Pro free for 7 days, with no card. After that, the Free plan holds 5 MB and its links stay online while they’re opened at least once every 90 days; Starter, currently $8 a month, holds 500 MB. Nadia’s 14 MB PDF needs Starter: it’s over Free’s 5 MB.

This 29-second video shows the whole thing: upload the PDF, copy the link, and open it as your client.

You don’t need Litehost if your Drive or OneDrive link already opens signed out and you’re happy delivering from there, if an attachment fits, or if your client needs to sign, fill in, or comment on the PDF. Use a signature or review tool for those.

Sending several files rather than one PDF? Choosing how to deliver a final package covers folders, transfer services, and links.

Before you send

  • Attach or link: will it change, be forwarded, be read in more than one place, or be too big to attach?
  • The version and date are on the cover.
  • A link opens signed out, on a phone, through the last page, with a working download.
  • Your message says what it is, how to keep a copy, and where corrections will appear.