A share password is an optional password on a document. When it is set, anyone opening any share link for that document must enter the password before they can see it. It is there to stop people guessing or stumbling onto a share URL, not to provide strong encryption.
How it works
The password belongs to the document, not to a single link. One password covers every share link you create for that document. Once a visitor enters it correctly, it stays in effect for their whole session, so their reads, edits, images, and realtime all stay authorised.
As the owner you always bypass the password. The prompt only ever appears for people coming in through a share link.
Setting a password
Type a password and choose Save. To turn it off again, choose Remove or switch it off.
The password field always shows the current value in plain text, so you can read it back and copy it to whoever needs it. Anyone you have already shared with will be re-prompted on their next action once you set or change it.
What visitors see
When someone opens a protected share link, they get a full-screen password card with a single input instead of the canvas. Entering the right password opens the document; a wrong one shows an error and lets them try again.
Embedded documents behave the same way: the password prompt appears inside the embed frame. Because browsers keep each site's storage separate, a visitor enters the password once per site where the document is embedded.
Pair a password with a share link expiry for a link that both needs a secret and stops working after a set time.
Was this article helpful?