In this quick start, we cover some basic sharing & analytics capabilities that CloudFiles enables on top of your existing files.

In the previous quick start, we have already covered how to access your files stored on external storages and associate them to HubSpot records using the CloudFiles widget. We will assume the reader has that knowledge already. If not, please read the previous Quick start for file connector in HubSpot.

We mainly discuss link creation, security configuration and file analytics in this article. By the end of this article, the reader should know how to track a file in HubSpot using CloudFiles.

If you haven't already done so, make sure CloudFiles is installed in your HubSpot. This only takes a couple of minutes and you can follow the simple steps in our article on Installation guide for CloudFiles HubSpot Integration.

There are multiple ways to create a sharing link. You can either do it while associating the resource (file, folder or dataroom) to the record through the content library dialog that was shown above. You can also create a sharing link for a file or folder using the association tile's actions dropdown.

These steps are summarized and shown below -

Once the link has been created, CloudFiles will automatically open the link settings dialog. You can also access this dialog using the Get Link action in the association tile's more actions dropdown. This dialog can be used to set various security settings such as email collection, password protection, download control etc...

Now that your file is uploaded and link is configured, open that link in a browser window. You will be sharing this link with your clients. When you access the link, this is exactly what your clients will see. The file shows up in the browser using our proprietary file viewer.

This viewer supports all types of readable and watchable files including PDFs, PPTs, Excels, Docs, Images, Videos etc... Other types of non-rendered files are downloaded on link access.

Additionally, you can also 'Preview' the file. This does not apply the security settings and does not collect analytics. Previewing is for internal use only and these links should not be shared with the customers.

To view file analytics, locate the analytics action in the Actions dropdown of the file / folder association we created above. Additionally, the analytics should also show up on the timeline activity of the record if the CloudFiles timeline activity has been enabled. Both of these are shown int he graphic below.

Now that you have a basic knowledge of the connector and sharing use-cases that the app enables, you should also read up our Quick start for file automations in HubSpot. This talks about various automation capabilities in the context of file connector and sharing use-cases.

With these 3 quick starts, you are already an expert in HubSpot - CloudFiles integration.