Presigned Links

Presigned links let you hand a time-limited URL to someone — or to another service — so they can download or upload a specific object without needing your credentials. S3 Manager supports two kinds: presigned GET URLs for downloading and presigned PUT URLs for uploading.

Presigned GET URLs (download links)

A presigned GET URL gives the holder read access to a single object for a limited time. No account credentials are required to use it — anyone with the URL can download the file until it expires.

Generating a presigned GET URL

1. Click a file row in the file browser to open the Details panel.
2. Click the Copy URL button (link icon) in the panel toolbar.
3. S3 Manager generates the URL and copies it to your clipboard immediately. No dialog is shown.

The URL expiry uses the Default link expiry setting. You can change it in Settings:

• 1 hour (default)
• 24 hours
• 7 days

Note

The 7-day limit is the maximum S3 allows for presigned URLs signed with access key credentials.

Using a presigned GET URL

Paste the URL into a browser address bar or share it with a colleague. Any HTTP client (browser, curl, wget) can use it with a standard GET request. The URL contains a signature that encodes the expiry time — it stops working once the expiry passes.

Presigned PUT URLs (upload links)

A presigned PUT URL lets someone upload exactly one file to a specific key in your bucket, without an account or credentials. This is useful for accepting file submissions from external parties.

Generating a presigned PUT URL

1. Navigate to the folder in the file browser where the uploaded file should land.
2. Click the Upload link… button in the file browser toolbar (top-right area).
3. In the Upload link dialog:
   • File name — enter the name the uploaded object will have (no / allowed). The full key is shown below as Uploads to: <prefix><filename>.
   • Expiry — choose how long the link is valid: 1 hour, 24 hours, or 7 days.
4. Click Generate link. The URL appears in a read-only field.
5. Click Copy to copy the URL to your clipboard.

Using a presigned PUT URL

The recipient uploads a file by sending an HTTP PUT request to the URL. The request body must be the raw file contents. No authentication header is needed.

Example with curl:

curl -X PUT --upload-file /path/to/file.pdf "https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/reports/file.pdf?X-Amz-Signature=..."

Caution

The presigned PUT URL accepts any content uploaded to it until it expires. Share it only with the intended recipient and use a short expiry when possible.

Differences between the two link types

	Presigned GET	Presigned PUT
Use	Download an existing object	Upload a new object
Entry point	Details panel → Copy URL	File browser toolbar → Upload link…
Expiry options	1 h / 24 h / 7 d (set in Settings)	1 h / 24 h / 7 d (set per link)
File name required?	No — URL is for an existing key	Yes — you choose the destination key
HTTP method	GET	PUT