Send a confidential document to a client who has no account

A lawyer sends a contract to a client who has never heard of Databeamer. Passphrase by phone, link by email, done in five minutes.

The situation. You need to send a signed contract to a client. Email attachments are out of the question, and the client is not going to install anything or create an account for one document.

What you will use. A transfer to a guest, protected with a passphrase.

1. Start the transfer #

Drag the contract onto the Databeamer window, or choose New Transfer from the New menu. Give it a clear Title, for example "Engagement letter, signed". Add a short Message if you like; it is encrypted along with the files.

2. Add the client as a guest #

In To, type the client's full email address and choose Add … as a guest. Databeamer explains that they are not on Databeamer yet and will get a secure link by email.

Under How will your guest open it? keep Passphrase. It is the most private option: the email link alone cannot open anything.

The New Transfer window with the client added as a guest — 1: the guest recipient, 2: how the guest unlocks, 3: send.

3. Choose how long it stays available #

Set Expires after to the shortest period that gives the client time to download, typically 3 or 7 days. After that the files are removed automatically; the record of the transfer stays in your overview.

4. Send, then copy the passphrase #

Click Send. Once the upload finishes, Databeamer shows Share this passphrase with a code like XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Copy it now. It cannot be shown again, and Databeamer does not keep it.

The Share this passphrase panel after sending

5. Give the client the passphrase another way #

Call the client, or send the passphrase in a text message. Do not put it in an email: the point is that the link and the passphrase travel separately, so neither one on its own is enough.

What the client sees #

They receive an email from Databeamer with a Secure transfer link.

The Secure transfer page asking the guest for the passphrase — What the client sees after opening the link.

The page carries your organisation's branding if you set it up. They enter the passphrase, choose Unlock, and see your message and the files with a Download button each. The page tells them the files were encrypted end-to-end and offers Create account if they want their own. The full walkthrough from their side is in Open a transfer you received.

Afterwards #

Open the transfer in Exchange › Transfers to check its Activity: you see when the client downloaded. If they report that the link no longer works, the transfer has expired; send a new one.

If the client is a regular #

Once a client has an account, add them to your Contacts. Future transfers to them need no passphrase at all: they accept in the app and the files are encrypted directly to their keys.