---
title: "How to Send Documents Securely via Email | LinkPilot"
url: https://uselinkpilot.com/send-documents-securely-by-email
description: "How to send documents securely via email: what attachments and provider encryption can and cannot do, and how to send a document as a link that opens once."
lang: en
---

# How to send documents securely via email

Keep the document out of the attachment and email a link that reveals it once, then burns.

## Step by step

1. 1
   ### Decide whether the document needs to live in a mailbox
   A contract the other side will keep can be an attachment. A scan of an ID, a bank form or a document with a password inside should not sit in two mailboxes and their backups for years.
2. 2
   ### Create a free LinkPilot account and attach the file to a secret
   Attachments are encrypted in your browser with AES-GCM-256 before upload. The key stays in the link, so LinkPilot stores ciphertext it cannot read.
3. 3
   ### Set an expiry and keep burn after read on
   Choose one hour, 24 hours or seven days. The first reveal destroys the stored copy; the timer handles a link nobody opens.
4. 4
   ### Email the link, not the file
   The email carries the context and a URL. If the email is found later, the link leads to a burned page. On Pro, add a passphrase and send it by phone or text.
5. 5
   ### Ask the recipient to save the document on their side
   The link works once. They download it, store it where their own policy says, and the copy on our side is gone.

## Send it with a one-time link

No account needed. Free forever plan.

## How it works

1. 01
   ### Paste a password, a key, or a file
   Encrypted in your browser before anything is sent. Burn after read is on for every anonymous secret.
2. 02
   ### Send the link
   One URL. The key after the # stays in the browser and never reaches our servers.
3. 03
   ### The stored secret is gone
   The first open burns the ciphertext. A second visit, by anyone, meets the destroyed page.

Browser-side encryption shipped on 29 September 2026. Secrets created before that date were stored as plaintext until they expired, and a file's name, size and type are still visible to us. Read the full security model (https://uselinkpilot.com/security-architecture).

## How to send documents securely: what email itself offers

Mail between major providers is encrypted in transit, which protects it on the wire and nowhere else. Gmail's confidential mode can set an expiry and block forwarding and downloading, and Outlook can encrypt a message with Microsoft 365 Message Encryption; both keep the attachment in the mailbox for the life of the message and work best when both sides use the same provider. A password-protected PDF or ZIP helps too, as long as the password does not travel in the same email. The Gmail attachment (https://uselinkpilot.com/encrypt-email-attachment-gmail) page covers those options step by step.

## Why a one-time link is the simpler option for a single document

A one-time link needs no shared provider, no certificate and no portal. The document is encrypted on your device, stored as ciphertext, and destroyed after the first download. The recipient can be on any mail service and any device. Nothing needs installing. With a free account you can also revoke the link before it is opened, which no attachment allows.

Two limits, stated plainly: a file's name, size and type are visible to LinkPilot even though its contents are not, and a link forwarded before it is opened can be opened by whoever receives it first.

## Documents you send often

If you send the same kind of document regularly, such as onboarding paperwork or signed agreements, a workspace keeps every secret in one place with its status, and on Pro (https://uselinkpilot.com/pricing) the audit timeline records each view. For the password that protects a document, see send a password protected file (https://uselinkpilot.com/send-password-protected-file).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is an email attachment ever secure enough?

### Does the recipient need a LinkPilot account to open the document?

### How large can the document be?

### Can I see whether the document was opened?

Pro, $29 a month, adds a passphrase on every secret, a custom expiry date and time, and the audit timeline that records each view, burn and revoke. See plans (https://uselinkpilot.com/pricing).

## Related

- Encrypt an email attachment in Gmail: https://uselinkpilot.com/encrypt-email-attachment-gmail
- Send a file password protected: https://uselinkpilot.com/send-password-protected-file
- Secure file sharing with clients: https://uselinkpilot.com/secure-file-sharing-with-clients
- How to send passwords securely via email: https://uselinkpilot.com/send-password-by-email

All use cases: https://uselinkpilot.com/use-cases

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