checked click completed customer customers day disable download downloads email example few file firefox happens limit link links local logs multiple number open opening past problem product save send server starting suggestion system times uploaded users

I'm getting quite a few people in the past day or two that get the "download link expired" message as soon as they click through from the email.
Is there a problem with the system or server?

There is nothing going on our end. You can see the number of downloads attempts by them in the logs.

Just make sure that you have the file uploaded for your product and have the "download" checked as else users click the link, nothing happens and eventually link expires.

If your limit is too low (like 1 or 2), that can cause issues as some users take 1 or 2 attempts to understand that they are downloading the file and they have to save the file first to their local drive rather than "opening" it right away.

I also find that if a customer uses a download manager, it often causes the link to expire prematurely because the download manager works by opening multiple connections at once, which in turn, causes the link to expire once the download manager opens up as many connections as you have set in your download limit. For example, if your links are set to expire after 3 downloads, and the customer uses a download manager that is set to open 5 connections to speed the download, then it will "use up" all 3 downloads and cause the link to expire before the download has been completed.

I find that a good solution to this problem is simply to remind your customers (preferably in the email that they are sent with the download link) to temporarily disable any download managers they might be running before starting the download.

Good suggestion, Andrew. Just had a customer there who used FireFox and TurboDownload. He said it tried 5 times in quick succession, and then the link expired on him. Had to send him a new one.