Digital downloads
Digital downloads let you sell files, such as an ebook or a software installer. You upload the file on the product; after paying, the buyer downloads it from their order page or the link in their confirmation email. Links work a set number of times and for a set number of days, and stop working when you cancel or refund the order.
| Menu | The product's editor; Settings > Commerce > Downloads |
| Permission | Manage digital files and downloads |
| Feature | Digital Downloads |
What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.
Set up a digital product
Your content type needs the Product part with the product type Digital, and the Digital files part. The Digital downloads sample recipe adds a ready Digital Product type with two sample ebooks and their PDF files, an Ebooks page at /ebooks, and two coupons. See Try a store sample.
Download links are sent to the email the buyer gives at checkout, which the Customers feature asks for. The sample turns it on. If you set up your own store, turn it on too.
- Open the product and find Digital files.
- Under Files, choose one or more files. Each uploads right away, up to 1 GB, and appears in the list.
- Optionally set Downloads per buyer and Days the links work for this product. Leave them blank to use the site's settings.
- Publish the product.
The files are kept privately: they are not in the media library, and nobody can open them without a buyer's link. When the site checks uploads for viruses, a file that fails the check, or that can't be checked, isn't kept and an error shows under Files. To replace a file, tick Remove next to the old one and upload the new one. Buyers who already have the old file keep it.
A buyer of digital products only isn't asked for a shipping address.
How buyers download
When the order is paid:
- The confirmation email has a Your downloads section with a link to each file, and how many downloads and days it allows.
- Their order page shows Your downloads with a Download button for each file.
A link opens a page with the file's name, how many downloads are left and until when, and a Download button. When a link no longer works, the page says why: it expired, all its downloads were used, or the order was canceled or refunded.
Settings
Under Settings > Commerce > Downloads:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Downloads per buyer | How many times a buyer can download each file they bought. 0 means no limit. |
| Days the links work | How long after paying the links work. 0 means they never expire. |
A product's own values, when set, win.
Manage a buyer's downloads
On the order's page, Downloads lists each file with how often it was downloaded, until when the link works, and whether it still does.
- Take back stops a link from working.
- Give downloads back lets the buyer download again: the count starts over, the link works for another period, and a link you took back works again.
- Buyer's link is the link to send a buyer who lost their email.
Canceling an order, or refunding all of it, takes its downloads back. After a partial refund the buyer keeps them.