Here's the short version: we stopped deleting your files.
Until now, when a share link ran out, the files behind it were gone. If someone missed the window, you dug out the original and uploaded it again. That was the deal everywhere - here, on WeTransfer, on most of the tools like us.
We've changed it. The link still expires exactly when you tell it to. The files stay in your account, in 20 GB of free storage, until you delete them.
Key points
- 20 GB free, and your files stay in it - expiry no longer deletes anything
- An expired link is still dead for good; re-sharing gives you a new one in a tap
- You get an account on your first upload, with no sign-up form
- A real file manager: folders, stars, colour labels, grid view, a full-screen viewer
- A rubbish bin with 30 days to change your mind
- Rename, move and version individual files - not just whole shares
- Deleting is now your call, not a timer's
What actually changed about expiry
Two things had one lifetime before. Now they have two.
| Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| The share link | Expires on your schedule | Same - 1 hour to 30 days |
| The files behind it | Deleted at expiry | Kept in your 20 GB until you delete them |
| Getting the files back | Re-upload from your computer | One tap: Share again |
When a link expires it stops working for everyone holding that address, permanently. That part hasn't moved, and it shouldn't - it's the reason an expiring link is safer than a permanent one. What's changed is that missing the window no longer costs you the file. Why expiring links are safer still applies - it was always the link that protected you, not the deletion.
Re-sharing issues a new address. The old one stays dead. So a link you sent in March can't quietly come back to life because you re-shared the same file in September.
If you'd rather a file really was gone, that still works too. Delete it, and it's deleted. Or use a one-time link, which burns the files the moment someone downloads them. The difference is that it's now your decision instead of a countdown you forgot about.
You already have an account
You don't have to sign up for anything. You never did, and that hasn't changed.
What's new is that your first upload quietly creates an account for your browser. No form, no email, no password. It's just somewhere for your files to live, and it comes with the full 20 GB, 100 GB of downloads a month, and the file manager. Come back next week and your files are waiting.
There's an honest catch, and we'd rather say it out loud than let you find out the hard way: an account like that is held together by a cookie in that one browser. Clear your cookies, switch to your phone, or hand the laptop back, and there's no way in - not for you, and not for us, because there's nothing proving those files were yours.
Connecting a Google account fixes that. It takes one tap, it keeps everything you've already uploaded, and it puts the same files on every device you use. Connect Google from your file manager - and it pays 2 GB for doing it.
A file manager that behaves like a drive
My Files used to be a list of shares. It's now closer to a proper drive.
- Folders. Make one, then drag shares into it. Deleting a folder never deletes what's inside - those files just move back to All shares.
- Stars and colour labels. Mark the things you keep coming back to.
- Grid or list. Grid shows image thumbnails. Your choice is remembered.
- A full-screen viewer. Click a file to open it. Arrow keys move through the rest of the share. Images, video, audio, PDFs and text all open in place.
- Drop files anywhere. You don't have to open a dialog first - drag files onto the page and the upload starts.
- Search and sort across your file names, sizes, dates and downloads.
Nothing gets deleted by accident
Now that expiry doesn't clear anything out, deleting is the only thing that frees space. That makes an accidental delete much more expensive, so we gave it an undo.
Removing a share puts it in the rubbish bin. The link dies straight away, but the files sit there for 30 days, and restoring them is one click. If the link still had time left on it when you binned it, restoring brings the link back too.
Binned files still count against your 20 GB while they're in there. That's deliberate - they're still taking up room, and a storage meter that lied about it wouldn't help you. Empty the bin when you want the space back.
Files, not just bundles
A share used to be a sealed bundle. Whatever you uploaded together stayed together. Now you can work on the files inside it:
- Rename a file without touching the link.
- Move a file into another share, or pull it out into a new share of its own.
- Upload a new version over a file - the old one is kept, and you can restore it.
- Remove one file and leave the rest of the share alone.
- Make a copy - a second link over the same file, so two people can be on different schedules.
Version history travels with a file when you move it. If moving a file leaves its old share empty, that share goes to the bin, because a link with nothing behind it isn't worth keeping.
One caveat, because it'll bite someone otherwise: this works on files uploaded from now on. Older uploads store the file under its name, so renaming or moving them would mean shifting the file itself. Those show their tools greyed out with an explanation rather than failing halfway.
Choose how long a link lasts - or make it permanent
Uploads start the second you drop a file, which is fast but left no time to touch the expiry picker. So the choice now appears again on the result panel, after the link exists. Change it there any time.
Anyone signed in can pick anything up to 30 days. Invite one friend who joins and shares a file, and Never unlocks - a link that keeps working until you turn it off.
Earning more space
The free 20 GB can grow, and there are two ways now.
Setup rewards. One-off, and they're small on purpose:
| Do this | Get |
|---|---|
| Connect your Google account | +2 GB |
| Share your first file | +1 GB |
| Have someone download one of your shares | +1 GB |
| Create an upload inbox | +1 GB |
| Make a folder | +1 GB |
Inviting friends. Every friend who joins through your link and shares a file adds 1 GB, permanently, to both of you. The invite page now shows the whole picture - who's earned, who's pending, who didn't qualify - and how far you are from the ceiling.
Both routes share one ceiling of +80 GB, so the most any free account can hold is 100 GB. We'd rather have one honest maximum than two numbers that quietly add up to something we never promised.
Your data, on your terms
Two more things went in, because an account that holds files permanently needs a door out.
- Export my data hands you a JSON file of everything the account holds - shares, folders, inbox links, contacts, what you've earned.
- Close my account deletes every file and detaches your identity. It asks twice, and it means it.
Both are in the menu under your avatar in My Files. Our security and retention page spells out what's kept, for how long, and what deletion actually does.
Try it
Drop a file on the home page. You'll get a link and a QR code in a couple of seconds, and the file will still be there next week whether anyone downloaded it or not.
Then take the one step that matters: connect a Google account. It's a tap, it costs nothing, it keeps every file you've already uploaded, and it's the difference between files that live in one browser and files that are actually yours.
TL;DR
Your link expires on the schedule you pick, exactly as before. Your files don't. They stay in 20 GB of free storage until you delete them, and a tap gives them a fresh link. You get that storage without signing up - but connect Google, or a cleared cookie takes the lot with it.