Send, receive, keep: a different tool for each task
Transfer, upload link, Drive: three tools for three tasks that are often confused. Why each one exists, what it changes day to day, and a table to help you choose.
A client sends their photos through a messaging app, compressed. A video editor clicks a link… that expired the day before. A finished project disappears because nobody stored it anywhere. These little mishaps often have the same cause: using a single tool for three tasks that don’t have the same needs.
Three tasks, three needs
When you work with large files, you’re actually doing three very different things:
- Sending files to someone, for a limited time.
- Receiving files from someone who has no account and no software.
- Keeping files in one place, for yourself or for the whole team, with no end date.
Each task has its own tool: the transfer, the upload link and the Drive. Let’s look at why each one exists.
Sending: the transfer, built to pass things along
A transfer meets a simple need: getting files that are too big for an email to a specific person. Expiry is not a flaw, it’s the whole idea: once the delivery is made, the files disappear from the server and nothing lingers online.
On Misi.Link, you drag and drop files or folders (the folder structure is preserved) and you get a link or an email delivery. For free, a transfer can be up to 64 GB and stay available for up to 45 days (90 days on Pro, 180 on Business). Several options fit the “I’m handing over a parcel” logic:
- a password, to be shared through another channel;
- Delete after download, so the link can only be used once;
- reminders to recipients who haven’t downloaded yet;
- preview only and approval with comments, when you need someone to sign off on an edit.
If the link expires too soon, it’s not necessarily over: for a few days, an expired transfer can be recovered in one click with a Pro or Business plan.
Receiving: the upload link, designed for the other person
Here the problem is the opposite. Your client isn’t equipped: they have dozens of GB of rushes, photos or documents, and they won’t create an account just to hand them over to you. The usual result: a lost USB drive, a share link from their own storage space, or images mangled by a messaging app.
The upload link reverses the direction. With a paid plan, you create a link from My space and give it to your client. They drop in files and entire folders, enter their first and last name (their email is optional), and that’s it. You receive an email with the uploader’s name and you can reply to them directly; if they left their address, they receive a summary of what they uploaded.
With the Business plan, the upload can even arrive directly in a Drive folder, organized under a name like “Last name First name — date”, with its subfolders and no archive to unzip. What the client sent is organized the moment it arrives.
Keeping: the Drive, so nothing disappears
That leaves the question the first two tools don’t solve: where does a file live once the project is under way? A transfer expires, an upload lands somewhere… and you need a stable place. That’s the Drive’s role: folders, with no expiry date.
Every Misi.Link account has one, even a free account (100 GB, 1 TB on Pro). It includes search from the first few letters, thumbnails, a photo and video viewer, colors and a 30-day trash that rescues you from mistakes. With the Business plan (5 TB, up to 10 accounts), the Drive becomes the whole team’s: “Can edit” or “Read only” permissions per member, a history of who added, moved or deleted what, share links managed from a single tab, and the ability to protect a folder with a code.
One honest note: the team Drive is not end-to-end encrypted, in order to allow thumbnails and previews. It is protected by the HTTPS connection and storage encryption. For a highly sensitive delivery, the “Encrypted download” option of a transfer remains the right choice.
The real benefit: making them work together
These three tools aren’t in competition, they work in sequence. The client uploads, the Drive organizes, and you send a final version as a transfer without re-downloading anything: “Send as transfer” starts directly from the Drive. In the other direction, “Copy to Drive” saves a transfer into the folder of your choice, and a transfer you receive can be saved to your Drive in one click from its download page.
Day to day, this changes two things: you no longer wonder “does this link still exist?” for a file you want to keep, and you no longer leave files lingering online that you only meant to deliver.
If you’re a videographer, photographer or graphic designer, you can also sell your files on Misi.Link with a proper product page (image, description, price), promo codes and a public store, with a Pro plan. Details are on the Features page.
The summary table
In short: if the other person needs to download and move on, choose the transfer. If they need to hand over files to you without an account, use the upload link. If the team needs to find those files again in six months, use the Drive.
Your turn
The easiest way is to try it with a real project. Send a first transfer, then create a free account to open your Drive. To compare plans (upload links, team Drive), head to the Pricing page.
