Send a PDF Quote on a Link You Can Replace Without a New QR

A client proposal dies in the inbox as a chain of files named final, final-v3, and final-USE-THIS. The price changes after a call, the scope paragraph moves, and someone on the client side still has yesterday's PDF open in a preview. A replaceable file link fixes the address, not the negotiation. You upload the quote once, send one URL, and when the numbers change you replace the PDF at that same address. The QR you already dropped into a leave-behind or a slide stays pointed at the current file.

This is a workflow for quotes and proposals that are allowed to be public to anyone who has the link. ShareKit pages are not private folders and they are not password-protected. Do not put bank details, tax identifiers, or a named person's home address in the PDF. A price, a scope, and a timeline for a project you are happy for the recipient to forward is the right shape.

What you get from one upload

Upload the PDF on PDF to URL. The upload produces four things you can actually hand to someone:

• A public page with an in-browser preview and a download control. The recipient does not create an account.
• A direct file URL, for the person who wants the bytes rather than the page.
• Embed snippets, if the quote also lives inside a page you edit.
• QR PNG and SVG. The printed or placed code encodes the scan address, which counts a QR scan and then opens the share page.

Files under 20MB have no credit cost. A ten-page quote is usually a few megabytes. Larger files use the credit rule in the product: one credit for each 10MB block past the first 10MB, and a file with a credit cost requires a signed-in account. You do not need a credit pack for an ordinary proposal PDF.

Replace the file, keep the address

Signed-in owners can replace the uploaded file at the same address up to five times. The share URL does not change. The QR image does not change. The next person who opens the link sees the new PDF. Someone who already downloaded Monday's file still has Monday's file on their computer. Replacement updates what the link serves from now on. It does not reach into an old download.

Replacement does not extend the stored expiry date. That matters if you thought a new PDF reset the clock. It does not. See the dates in the next section before you print a QR on a folder you will hand over at a pitch.

Five replacements is enough for a real quote cycle if you are disciplined: first draft, post-call revision, legal tweak, final numbers, and one spare. It is not enough if you upload every half hour while you type. Export when the draft is something you would say out loud. If you burn the five swaps on typos, the sixth change needs a new upload and a new link, and every QR you already placed is stale.

Which clock the file is actually on

ShareKit stores guest uploads with a 7-day date and account uploads with a 30-day date. Keep One File is a one-time purchase that moves the date out by at least a year for one specific upload, its URL, and its QR code. The price is listed on pricing. It is not a subscription that renews by itself.

The public page, the download, and the file QR are not switched off automatically when that stored date passes. Delete the upload when the page should stop. A reminder email can be sent before the date. Deleting the file stops the public page. It does not erase a copy someone already downloaded. Keep your own source file. ShareKit is not your only copy.

For a quote you expect the client to open this week, an account's 30-day date matches the conversation. For a leave-behind booklet that will sit in a reception drawer, 30 days is a short promise. Either plan to replace your attention every month, or attach Keep One File to that one PDF before you print. Do not tell the client the link "lasts forever." The terms do not say that.

Guest uploads, the ones made without an account, are the wrong tool for a proposal you must update. You cannot rely on a 7-day guest file plus a printed QR. Sign in, save the file to the account, and then send the link.

A sending script that survives the second call

Use one link in every channel so you are not maintaining three addresses.

1. Export the PDF with a revision line on page one: "Proposal 18 October 2026, revision 2." Page numbers and a total on the last page help the client confirm they have the whole document.
2. Upload it while signed in. Open the public page in a private window. Check that the preview is readable on a phone, because many clients will tap the link from a message rather than a laptop.
3. Send the share page, not a fresh attachment. In the message, name the revision: "Revision 2 is on this page. I will update this same link if the deposit changes."
4. If you also hand over a printed one-pager, put the QR SVG on it at a size you have scanned from a desk, and point the sentence at the action: "Scan for the full proposal." The QR guide covers quiet space and print size. Do not photograph your screen and paste that photo into the slide. Export the SVG.
5. After the call, revise the source, replace the PDF, and scan or open the same URL before you write "updated." If the private window still shows revision 2, you replaced the wrong upload.

Put the link in the calendar invite as well as the email. People lose the email and still have the invite. They should find the same address in both places.

What not to promise

Do not promise a password. The public page has none. If the client needs a named-user workspace, a contract vault, or a record of which person accepted clause 4, this page is the wrong product. Send a link they can forward, and keep the sensitive signature packet in the tool their counsel already uses.

Do not promise that you can see that "Sarah from procurement opened it at 16:10." ShareKit counts views, downloads, and QR scans for the upload. Those numbers are aggregates. They are not a list of people, and a view is not an acceptance. A view tells you the page was opened. A download tells you someone saved the file. A QR scan tells you someone hit the scan address. Use them to decide whether to follow up, not as evidence in a dispute.

Do not promise unlimited edits. Five replacements, then a new address. Say that to yourself before you say "I'll just update the link" for the twentieth time.

Do not put the only copy of the quote in the upload. If you delete it, or if the file is removed, the page stops. Your desktop file is the source. The link is the distribution.

A short example with dates

On 2 October you upload revision 1 while signed in. The stored date is 30 days out. You mail the link and drop the QR into a three-slide leave-behind.

On 6 October the client asks for a smaller phase one. You replace the PDF. The URL in the old email still works. The QR on the printed slide still works. The stored date does not move forward because you replaced the file.

On 9 October you notice the private window shows the new total and the revision line says revision 2. You send one sentence: "Same link, revision 2, phase one only." You do not attach a file.

On 20 October they accept. You stop editing. You leave the page up through the kickoff, then delete it when the signed agreement lives elsewhere. If the printed QR will be useless after deletion, say so to the person still holding the leave-behind, or do not print a QR you cannot stand behind for the life of the paper.

If the kickoff is four months away and the printed piece must keep working, Keep One File on that upload is the control that matches a year, not another casual replacement.

Questions from the person sending the quote

The client says they still see the old price.

Ask them to reload the share page, not the file they downloaded. If the page is old, confirm you replaced the upload that matches the URL you sent. Two uploads means two addresses. Only one of them changed.

Can I replace a PDF with a different file type?

Replace with a file the replacement action accepts. A proposal should stay a PDF so the preview and the page count remain what you tested. Do not swap in a zip of working files and expect the same reading experience.

Does the client need ShareKit?

No. They open the page and download without an account.

How is this different from attaching the PDF?

An attachment is a copy. A replaceable link is an address. Copies multiply. The address can be updated until you hit the replacement limit or you delete it.

Where do restaurant menus differ?

The mechanics are the same file page. The audience is a dining room instead of one client. The walkthrough for printed menu codes is update a printed menu QR.

Related: PDF to URL · pricing · QR code guide