Follow the storage purpose, not the convenience of the upload button
Shopify’s Files documentation explicitly warns merchants to upload only material intended for public access there and not to upload confidential, personal, or sensitive information. The ability to copy a file URL is not evidence of customer-specific privacy.
A public size guide and a personalized customer report may both be PDFs, but their storage requirements differ. File format does not determine the appropriate audience.
A storage decision matrix
| Material | Intended audience | Storage question |
|---|---|---|
| Public product manual | Any visitor | Is public hosting appropriate and intentional? |
| Customer-specific report | Authorized recipient | Which system controls and verifies access? |
| Internal draft | Production staff | Can it remain outside customer delivery? |
| Externally hosted private file | Provider-authorized users | Are provider permissions correct? |
This matrix does not label every app-hosted download private by default. Evaluate the particular app’s documented controls, link behavior, and your configuration.
Fictional example: two similar-looking PDFs
A store has a generic furniture-care guide and a custom home-layout report for order 4602. The guide is meant to be read by any visitor. The report contains customer-specific details and should not be placed in the public Files area merely because the merchant already knows how to upload PDFs there.
The merchant uses a supported order-specific delivery workflow for the report and checks the access conditions separately. QuickAttach documents files or links per order item; that association helps identify the intended order, but the merchant must still understand the actual access path.
Questions before storing a customer document
- Who should be able to retrieve it?
- Does possessing the link grant access, or is another check required?
- Can staff access be limited appropriately in the chosen system?
- What happens when the file is replaced or deleted?
- How long is the hosted copy retained?
- Where else does the production process keep copies?
Use synthetic files to validate uncertain behavior. Do not upload a real private document and then investigate whether it is public.
The QuickAttach walkthrough describes the customer delivery flow, and support can clarify app-specific questions. Keep public resources, internal working files, and customer deliverables deliberately separated by purpose, with a clear owner for each storage decision.
Deliver the right file with the right order
See how QuickAttach connects a customer-specific file or link to a Shopify order item.
See the QuickAttach order-to-download walkthrough