Publish a PDF people can preview, then update it without reprinting the QR

Steps that assume the document will change

1. Export the PDF you want someone to read on a phone. ShareKit does not rebuild or compress it. A menu that is already one page will preview faster than a 200-page catalog.
2. Upload it while signed in if you want the 30-day stored expiry instead of 7 days. Guest PDFs store a 7-day date. Account files store a 30-day date. When that date passes, the public page stops serving the PDF.
3. Print the QR code from the upload result. The code encodes /q/your-slug, which records a scan and then opens the share page. Put a short URL next to it for people who cannot scan.
4. When the document changes, open Settings → Uploads and replace the file. The slug, the share page, and the printed code stay. You can do this five times on that upload.

Replace the file, keep the link

Replacement is a real account action, not a promise that every paid plan extends storage. The upload row keeps its slug. The new PDF overwrites the stored object. The public page and the QR target do not change. The code allows five replacements (replaceCount stops at 5), whether or not you bought Keep One File. That purchase extends expiry to a year for one file; it does not raise the replacement cap.

1. Version 1. You upload spring-prices.pdf. The share page is /s/k7nq2wpx. The QR image encodes /q/k7nq2wpx. A scan increments the QR count and opens the spring PDF in the browser viewer.
2. Version 2. In June you replace that upload with summer-prices.pdf. The tent on the table is untouched. The next scan still hits /q/k7nq2wpx and now shows the summer file. Anyone who saved the old PDF to their phone still has the old copy; replacement does not reach into their downloads.

A guest upload has no owner until it is claimed into an account, and replacement requires the file to be on your account. Claim it before you rely on a printed code.

Example: a seasonal price-list tent

A café prints 40 table tents in March. Each tent carries the QR for the price list, not a photo of the prices. Through May, the share page shows spring-prices.pdf inline, and the counters show how many people opened the page, downloaded the PDF, or scanned the code. Those three numbers are totals for the slug. They do not name the guest, and they do not reset when you upload the summer PDF. Pro and Business can also open a day-by-day table and turn on one email the first time someone else opens the file. If the tent must still scan in August, 30-day account retention is not enough — use Keep One File on that upload before the date, because the share goes offline when the date passes.

Preview, download, and what the counts mean

The share page puts the PDF in an iframe pointed at the stored file, so a phone can read it before saving a copy. The download button is a separate request and increments the download count. A view is a page open. A QR scan is a hit on /q/slug, which then redirects to the share page — so one scan usually also becomes one view. Do not add the two numbers together and call them unique people.

Use the direct file URL only when another system must fetch the PDF bytes. For a human, send the share page. For paper, print the QR that points at /q/slug, not a QR you made by pasting the raw file URL into a generator that ShareKit cannot update.

Tracking around the preview

Opening the share page counts a view. The download button counts a download. A hit on /q/slug counts a scan and then usually a view, so do not add the two numbers and call them people. Free accounts see the totals. Pro and Business can read the same counts by day, set a password, and request one email the first time someone else opens or downloads the file. The password sits in front of the PDF. The QR still lands on the share page, which then asks for the password.

• File to URL — ZIP and Office files do not preview on this page.
• Pricing — Keep One File extends one file’s date. Pro and Business add day-by-day stats, a password, and the first-open email.
• File-sharing analytics — what these counts can and cannot tell you.
• Restaurant menu QR — table cards that should survive a menu edit.

Same pattern, different rooms

• Restaurant menu QR — table cards that should survive a menu edit.
• Event and conference materials — a schedule PDF that changes after the signs are printed.
• Update a printed menu QR code — what to check before you assume an existing code can be edited.

Questions about updating a PDF link