Where are my files stored?

In your own Cloudflare R2 bucket. The app encrypts every file before it is written, so the bytes are never stored in the clear, and only a buyer's signed, time-limited link can open them.

Do I need my own Cloudflare account?

Yes. You create a Cloudflare R2 bucket in your own account and paste its keys into the app's Settings. The files stay in storage you own and control.

What does it cost to store and deliver files?

There are no storage or bandwidth fees from us. You pay Cloudflare directly for your R2 bucket, and R2 does not charge egress fees, so delivering large files does not add a surprise bill.

Can buyers share their download link?

Each link is signed and tied to a single order and file. You set how many times it can be used and how long it works for, so a shared link stops working once it hits your limit or expires.

How do buyers get their files?

Download buttons appear on the order confirmation email, the thank-you page, the order status page, and in the customer account, so buyers always have a way back to their files.

What happens if I refund or cancel an order?

Access is revoked automatically. The buyer's links stop working, so a refunded or cancelled order can no longer open the files.

What file types can I sell?

Any file: PDFs, images, audio, video, zip archives, and more. PDFs can also get a licence footer added to every page at download time.

Do you store my customers' personal data?

No. The app keeps none of your customers' personal information. When a feature needs a buyer detail, such as a name on a PDF footer, it is read from Shopify at download time and never stored.

Help and setup guide

Vaulted Downloads sells digital files from your own encrypted storage. This guide walks through connecting your Cloudflare R2 bucket, adding files to a product, how buyers get their downloads, and the limits and licence options you can set. Each step takes a few minutes. If you get stuck, use the form at the bottom and we will help.

1. Connect your Cloudflare R2 bucket

Your files live in your own Cloudflare R2 bucket, not on our servers. R2 is Cloudflare's object storage, a bit like a private folder in the cloud. It is a good fit for selling files because it does not charge egress fees, so delivering large downloads does not add a surprise bill.

You only do this once. After your bucket is connected, every product you set up uses the same storage.

Set it up

In Cloudflare, create an R2 bucket (for example my-shop-downloads) and an R2 API token with read and write access to it.
In the app, open Settings and paste your Account ID, Access key ID, Secret access key, and bucket name into the storage fields. Each field has a "where to find this" note beside it.
Save. The app checks the connection and encrypts the keys before storing them, so they are never kept in the clear.

Settings reference

Field	What it is	Where to find it
Account ID	Identifies your Cloudflare account.	Cloudflare dashboard, R2 overview page
Access key ID	The public half of your R2 API token.	Shown once when you create the R2 API token
Secret access key	The private half of the token. Treated as a secret and encrypted.	Shown once when you create the R2 API token
Bucket name	The bucket the app reads and writes your files in.	The name you gave the bucket in R2

2. Add files to a product

A product delivers whatever files you attach to it. Attaching a file uploads it straight into your bucket, encrypted on the way, so it is never stored or sent in the clear.

The product can be a normal Shopify product. When someone buys it, the app creates the download permissions for that order automatically.

Set it up

In the app, open Products and choose the product you want to sell as a download.
Upload one or more files. You can give each a clear label, which is what the buyer sees on their download page.
Set a download limit or expiry on a file if you want it to differ from your store defaults (see section 4), then save.

How it works

The list of files for a product is stored as an encrypted, app-owned metafield on your store. The file bytes sit in your bucket as ciphertext. Nothing a buyer could read is ever public, and nothing about the buyer is stored by the app.

3. How buyers get their downloads

After a buyer checks out, Vaulted Downloads shows their download links in every place Shopify shows the order, so they never have to hunt for an email.

Where the links appear

Place	What the buyer sees
Order confirmation email	A link back to their downloads, added with a small snippet you paste once.
Thank-you page	A "Your downloads" block right after checkout.
Order status page	The same block, so they can come back to it later.
Customer account	A "My downloads" page listing the files from all of their orders.

Download links are counted when the buyer presses the button, never when the page simply loads. That matters because email security scanners open links in the background, and we do not want those to use up a buyer's downloads.

Add the blocks and page to your store

The thank-you page, order status page and customer account are turned on in Shopify's own editors. You only do this once, and each one takes a minute.

Thank-you and order status pages

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Checkout.
Next to your live checkout, click Customize. This opens the checkout and accounts editor.
At the top of the editor, use the page menu to switch to the Thank you page.
Click "Add app block", choose "Your Downloads", then drag it where you want it to show.
Use the page menu to switch to the Order status page and add the same block.
Click Save.

The "My downloads" page in customer accounts

In the same editor, use the page menu to switch to a customer account page.
Add the "My downloads" page. The editor then asks if you want to add a link to it in the customer account menu. Say yes, so buyers can find it.
Click Save.

You can also add or change the menu link later under Content, then Menus, then "Customer account main menu". The "My downloads" page needs new customer accounts turned on.

One order, or all of them

If an order has more than one product with downloads, they all appear together in the same block, each product listed with its own files. The thank-you page and the order status page always show the files for that one order.

The "My downloads" page in the customer account is the exception: it brings together the files from all of a buyer's orders in one list, each labelled with its order number, for example "Phonics Pack (#1002)". So a returning buyer sees everything they have bought in one place. To see it they need to be signed in to their account. Guests still get their files from the order confirmation email, the thank-you page and the order status page for each order.

Test it on your store

Place a test order for a product that has files attached.
Open the thank-you page and confirm the downloads block appears.
Press Download and confirm the file opens, then check the count went down by one.
Open the order status page and the customer account and confirm the links are there too.

4. Limits, expiry and the PDF licence footer

You decide how long links last, how many times a file can be downloaded, and whether your PDFs carry a licence footer. Set store-wide defaults in Settings, and override them on an individual file when you need to.

Settings reference

Setting	What it does	Default
Download limit	How many times a buyer can download a file before the link stops working.	Your store default
Link expiry	How many days a download link keeps working after the order.	Your store default
PDF licence footer	Adds a small footer to every page of a PDF at download time.	On for PDFs
Include buyer details	Adds the buyer's name and order number to the PDF footer. Read at download time, never stored.	Off

Limits are a gentle guardrail, not a wall. If a buyer genuinely needs another download, you can reissue access from the order in the app.

How the licence footer works

When a buyer downloads a PDF, the app adds a footer to each page as the file streams out. The original file in your bucket is never changed. If you turn on buyer details, the footer names the order it belongs to, which gently discourages sharing.

Still need a hand?

Send us a message and we will reply by email, usually within one business day. You do not need to be signed in.

Frequently asked questions

Where are my files stored?: In your own Cloudflare R2 bucket. The app encrypts every file before it is written, so the bytes are never stored in the clear, and only a buyer's signed, time-limited link can open them.
Do I need my own Cloudflare account?: Yes. You create a Cloudflare R2 bucket in your own account and paste its keys into the app's Settings. The files stay in storage you own and control.
What does it cost to store and deliver files?: There are no storage or bandwidth fees from us. You pay Cloudflare directly for your R2 bucket, and R2 does not charge egress fees, so delivering large files does not add a surprise bill.
Can buyers share their download link?: Each link is signed and tied to a single order and file. You set how many times it can be used and how long it works for, so a shared link stops working once it hits your limit or expires.
How do buyers get their files?: Download buttons appear on the order confirmation email, the thank-you page, the order status page, and in the customer account, so buyers always have a way back to their files.
What happens if I refund or cancel an order?: Access is revoked automatically. The buyer's links stop working, so a refunded or cancelled order can no longer open the files.
What file types can I sell?: Any file: PDFs, images, audio, video, zip archives, and more. PDFs can also get a licence footer added to every page at download time.
Do you store my customers' personal data?: No. The app keeps none of your customers' personal information. When a feature needs a buyer detail, such as a name on a PDF footer, it is read from Shopify at download time and never stored.