1
Open the link from the email
You will see the document's outline, blurred. Nothing readable has been sent to your browser yet. The name of the organisation that sent it appears at the top of the page, on their own web address.
You received a link. What now?
An organisation has sent you a document through DocShare. This page explains what happens when you open the link, where the passphrase comes from, and how to check that the message is genuine.
2
Press “Unlock PDF”
A short verification sequence runs — six checks, a few seconds in total. You can watch each one complete. The passphrase box stays greyed out until they have all finished successfully.
3
Enter the passphrase you were given separately
This never arrives in the same email as the link. Look for it in a letter, an SMS, a telephone call, or in something you already have from the sender — a customer number, a policy reference, or the last digits of your account number. The email itself usually says which.
4
Read, print or save
The document becomes readable in your browser. Nothing is stored on your device unless you save it yourself, and closing the tab ends the session. You can return to the link until it expires, normally fourteen days after it was sent.
Checking a link
How to tell a genuine DocShare link from a fake.
Criminals imitate secure-document emails because they work. Four checks take about fifteen seconds and defeat almost all of them.
Check 1
The address ends in doc-share.online
A genuine link looks like
https://yourbank.doc-share.online/?encryptionId=…
— the organisation's name is before the dot, and the last two labels
are always doc-share.online. Addresses like
doc-share.online.secure-files.com or doc-share-online.com
are not ours.
Check 2
We never ask for credentials
DocShare asks for one thing: the passphrase for that specific document. If a page asks for your online banking login, a card number, a PIN, a TAN or a payment confirmation code, it is not DocShare — close it immediately and report it to your bank.
Check 3
You were expecting something
Secure documents follow a conversation: an application, a claim, a policy change. An unexpected "secure document is waiting for you" from an organisation you have no live matter with deserves a telephone call to a number you look up yourself — never one printed in the email.
Check 4
The passphrase came another way
If the same message contains both the link and the password, it did not come through DocShare. Separating the two is the whole point of the design, and we never send both in one channel.
Seen something suspicious using our name? Send it to abuse@doc-share.online. Include the full address of the page and the email headers if you can — we act on takedowns the same day.
If something goes wrong
Common problems.
I do not know the passphrase
Only the organisation that sent the document knows it — we cannot see it, reset it or look it up. Contact them using a number or address you find yourself, and quote the reference shown on the unlock screen.
A verification check failed
The passphrase box will stay locked and the screen tells you which check did not pass, together with a reference. Most commonly the link has expired or has already been used. Ask the sender to issue a new one, quoting that reference.
The link says it is not recognised
Some email programs shorten long web addresses. Try copying the complete address from the original message into your browser. If it still fails, the share has most likely expired — links last fourteen days by default.
The page will not load properly
The viewer needs a current browser with JavaScript enabled: Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari, updated within the last two years. Corporate networks that inspect encrypted traffic can also interrupt the first check — try a mobile connection.
Can I keep the document?
Yes. Once it is open you can print it or save a copy, exactly as you would with any other document. What expires is the link, not the copy you have made.
Will DocShare email me about anything else?
No. We deliver the link on behalf of the sender and that is all. Your address is not added to any list, and we do not market to recipients.