How Filemonk protects your files

Filemonk provides comprehensive file protection features to safeguard your digital content from unauthorized sharing and distribution. These security measures help you control access to your digital products while ensuring legitimate customers can easily download their purchases.

Built-in Security Features

Filemonk automatically protects your digital files through advanced security infrastructure and configurable access controls. Your content is stored using enterprise-grade cloud storage with automatic link expiration to prevent unauthorized sharing.

Automatic Link Expiration

All download links generated by Filemonk automatically expire after a predetermined time period, preventing customers from saving and sharing permanent download URLs across platforms.

• Download links use signed URLs that cannot be shared indefinitely
• Links expire based on your configured time limits
• Expired links require customers to log back into their account for new access
• This prevents viral sharing of download links on social media or forums

PDF Watermarking Protection

Add watermarks to your PDF files to help prevent unwanted sharing. Go to Settings → PDF Protection to turn it on. You can choose to watermark all PDFs or just specific ones, and customize the text, style, and placement.

To protect a single file, go to the Content Library, open the file, and turn on "Protect PDF with watermark."

Note: PDF watermarking requires a paid Filemonk plan and may take a few moments to process for each download.

Download Limits and Access Control

Control how many times customers can download files and set time-based access restrictions to prevent excessive downloading and sharing.

Configuring Download Limits

Access download limit settings through Settings → Download page tab, then click Download Limits in the editor.

1. Set Max. number of downloads per file to limit how many times each customer can download a specific file (e.g., 10 downloads)
2. Configure No. of days available to download to set an expiration period from the purchase date (e.g., 365 days)
3. Customize the Download limit error message that customers see when they exceed limits
4. Update the display text for download counters that appear on customer download pages

Download Limit Display Options

Configure how download limits appear to customers:

• Maximum downloads string: Text shown before the download count (e.g., "Maximum downloads: 5 remaining")
• Available until string: Text shown before the expiration date (e.g., "Available to download until March 15, 2024")
• Show download limit: Toggle whether customers can see their remaining downloads and expiration dates

Customer Account Protection

Require customers to log into their Shopify accounts before accessing downloads, adding an extra layer of security and preventing unauthorized access to purchase links.

Enabling Customer Account Extensions

Navigate to Settings → Download page tab to configure customer account requirements.

1. Change Download page host from Filemonk to Customer account to enable Shopify customer account integration
2. This automatically requires customers to log into their Shopify accounts before viewing downloads
3. Downloads will appear directly in the customer's Shopify account under the Orders section
4. Customers must be logged in with the correct account that made the purchase to access files

Fraud Protection and Risk Management

Automatically protect your business from high-risk orders using Shopify's built-in fraud analysis to prevent unauthorized access to digital content.

Enabling Fraud Protection

Navigate to Settings → Orders tab to configure fraud protection settings.

1. Enable the Fraud protection toggle to activate automatic fraud detection
2. Filemonk will automatically check each order's fraud risk using Shopify's fraud analysis
3. Orders flagged as high-risk will have download access automatically disabled
4. You can manually review and re-enable access for legitimate orders if needed

Order Status Requirements

Control download access based on payment and fulfillment status:

1. Enable Check order status to restrict downloads based on order conditions
2. Choose from payment status options:

• Order is fully paid: Require complete payment before allowing downloads
• Order is partially paid: Allow downloads for partial payments
• Payment is pending: Block downloads until payment is confirmed

3. Select fulfillment requirements if you want to tie downloads to shipping status
4. Enable Block access to downloads if status does not match to prevent access when conditions aren't met

Refund and Cancellation Protection

Automatically revoke download access when orders are refunded or cancelled to prevent customers from keeping digital content after receiving their money back.

Setting Up Refund Protection

In Settings → Orders tab, configure automatic access revocation:

1. Enable Disable access for refunded orders to automatically block downloads for refunded purchases
2. For partial refunds, access will be disabled only for the specific products that were refunded
3. Cancelled orders will also have download access automatically disabled
4. This protection works retroactively for existing orders that get refunded

Manual Access Control

For individual orders requiring manual intervention:

1. Navigate to Orders from the main menu
2. Select the specific order you want to modify
3. Use the Toggle access button next to individual files to manually enable or disable downloads
4. Click Reset download limit to restore download counts for legitimate customers who need additional access

Troubleshooting

Common issues with file protection features and their solutions.

FAQs

Q: Can I watermark file types other than PDFs?

A: Currently, watermarking is only available for PDF files. Other file types rely on download limits and access controls for protection.

Q: What happens if a customer exceeds their download limit?

A: They'll see your custom error message and won't be able to download the file again unless you manually reset their download count.

Q: How quickly does fraud protection work?

A: Fraud protection checks happen automatically when orders are created, typically within a few minutes of purchase.

Q: Can customers share download links with others?

A: Download links automatically expire and are tied to customer accounts when using customer account extensions, making sharing ineffective.

Q: What happens to download access if I refund part of an order?

A: With refund protection enabled, access is disabled only for the specific products that were refunded, not the entire order.

Updated on: 25/07/2025