Share links — 24-hour public access

Sometimes you want someone to see one item or one box without giving them an account, without giving them persistent access, and without going through your inventory. Share links do this — anyone with the URL can view the resource for 24 hours.

ItemTrack has three sharing methods. This is the one for anonymous, expires-fast access. For persistent access to a specific paid user, see Share with another user. For household co-ownership, see Inviting family.

How

On any item, box, closet, or location's view page, find the Share this … card near the bottom. It has two tabs at the top: With another user and Public link (24h).

Click Public link (24h). Enter the recipient's email, optionally add a note, hit Send.

We email the recipient a one-click link. Clicking the link opens a public read-only page showing the resource: title, description, brand/model/category, photos, and (for boxes) the items inside.

Everything in the share is read-only. The recipient can't edit, delete, or add anything. They don't get an account, don't see any other resources in your inventory, and don't see your account info beyond your display name.

What's hidden in a share

• Encrypted private fields — serial number, purchase price. These are never included.
• Other resources in your account that aren't part of the shared one.
• Account-level info — your email, billing, plan, settings.

What IS in a share:

• The resource's plaintext fields (title, brand, model, category, condition, purchase date, description).
• All photos.
• For a box: the list of items inside (with their own plaintext fields and photos, but not their private fields).
• The "shared by" name (your display name).

The 24-hour expiry

Each share link expires 24 hours after creation. After that, clicking the link shows "This share has expired."

The 24-hour limit is intentional and not configurable per share. Reasons:

• Limits the blast radius if someone forwards the email.
• Forces you to think before re-sharing — if they need access for a week, send a fresh link each day.
• Aligns with insurance use cases (one-time inspection visits).

If someone needs persistent access, that's not a share — that's a co-owner. See Inviting family.

Revoking a share early

You can revoke before the 24-hour expiry. On the resource view page, open the share card and switch to the Public link (24h) tab if you're not already on it. The Recent shares dropdown shows recipients with active shares. Click Revoke next to any one — they immediately lose access. Anyone who already loaded the share page in their browser keeps the page they have but can't refresh.

Forwarding

If your recipient forwards the email, anyone with the link can open it (until it expires or is revoked). The link is the credential. Treat it accordingly.

Logged-out viewing

The recipient does NOT need an ItemTrack account to view a share. The share URL contains a long random token; possession of the URL is the access proof.

Audit trail

Every share creation and every share view is logged in the audit log:
- share.create when you generate the link.
- share.view when someone opens it.

You can see who's looked at your share by inspecting your audit log (currently admin-only — feature request to expose to users).