Share Gated Content

Read time 8 min Level Intermediate Prerequisites The file you want to share (PDF, Word, Excel, image, audio, video or zip, up to 100 MB)

In a nutshell: A Gated Content share is a public landing page wrapped around one uploaded file. The toll is an email-capture form (with reCAPTCHA, plus optional marketing consent and email validation) and every download is recorded against the email the visitor enters. Create one by naming it, uploading the file, setting gating and branding options, and flipping the status to Active. Switch on Email Validation for anything you intend to follow up on -- the lead list comes back clean.

What you will learn

What a gated file share is for: controlled distribution plus lead and consent capture.
How to create one: name, upload, configure, share.
The two visitor flows -- instant download and email-validated download -- and when to use each.
The marketing-consent checkbox and what it records.
How to read who downloaded the file and export the lead list.

The mental model

A gated share is a public landing page wrapped around one uploaded file. A visitor lands on the page, fills in a short form (email required), passes an invisible reCAPTCHA, and gets the file -- either straight away or via a one-time link emailed to them. Every download is recorded against the email the visitor entered. Two outcomes from one share: controlled distribution of the asset, and a lead with optional marketing consent in exchange.

One share equals one file. To gate a second asset, create a second share. The simplicity is the point -- each gate has one job, one tollbooth, one audit trail.

Acme PR Corp uses gated shares for Mr Widget Ltd's quarterly fintech whitepapers -- one share per whitepaper, a tracked lead list per release, the leads forwarded to the Mr Widget team after each quarter.

Where it lives

Open Gated Content from the CAMPAIGN menu. The landing tab, Active Gated File Campaigns, lists your existing shares with title, file, status and lead count. Share Gated File starts a new one.

[Screenshot placeholder -- the Share Gated Content page showing the "Active Gated File Campaigns" tab with a table of shares (Title, File, Status, Leads) and the "Share Gated File" button top-right.]

The Gated Content landing tab. One row per share, with file, status and lead count.

Creating a gate

Name it. Click Share Gated File and give it a short descriptive name (for example "Q4 Whitepaper"). That creates the share; everything else is on the settings screen.
Upload the file. On the SETTINGS tab, the Shared File section carries an Upload Gated File button (it becomes Replace Shared File once a file is in place). Allowed types: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, image, MP4, MP3, WAV, zip, txt, csv -- up to 100 MB.
Set the gating options. Two checkboxes:
- Require Email Validation (Access via Email Link) -- the visitor gets a one-time download link emailed to the address they entered, and must click it to download. Use this when you want the email proven, not just claimed.
- GDPR Compliant -- Add Subscribe to Marketing Material Checkbox on Download -- the public form shows a marketing opt-in checkbox; the visitor's choice is recorded with their download.
Set an optional expiry date. The Expiry Date field closes the gate automatically on a date you choose. Leave it blank for no expiry; the Clear button removes a date already set.
Notifications and copy. A Notifications field accepts an email address that receives download alerts. You can also set the Shared File Description (shown above the form), the button text, an exit message shown after download, and the branding -- logo, banner, wallpaper image, background and font colours. The visitor sees the share styled the way you want them to.
Set the status to Active. The Gated File Share Status dropdown carries Inactive and Active. Active shares accept visitors; Inactive shares show a "no longer available" message.

Sharing the link

On the share's SHARE tab you get the public URL -- copy it and embed it in a website, a media release, a social post or an email. The same tab gives you a copy-paste snippet for opening the share in a lightbox on your own site, so you can keep visitors on your domain rather than handing them off to a separate page.

The visitor flow

What the visitor sees:

The landing page with your branding, the file description, and a short form. An invisible reCAPTCHA runs in the background; a fallback challenge appears if the score is low.
They fill in the form -- email is required, and the form also asks for name, position, company name, company size and industry. The marketing checkbox shows here when you enabled it.
They submit. The next step depends on the gate settings:
- Email validation off -- the file downloads immediately, and your exit message shows.
- Email validation on -- a one-time download link is emailed to the address they entered; clicking it delivers the file. The page tells them to check their email.

Submissions are rate-limited per IP and per share, so the lead table stays clean of bot churn.

When to switch Email Validation on

The default trade-off is friction for trust. Email Validation off gets you the maximum lead count -- useful for awareness-led shares where signal is enough. Email Validation on filters the list to addresses the visitor actually controls -- essential when the leads feed sales follow-up, sales-qualified outreach or any path where wrong emails cost time.

Rule of thumb: if you intend to follow up, validate. The minor click-through step on the visitor side delivers a dramatically cleaner lead list on yours.

Reading who downloaded it

Two surfaces show you the results:

The stats bar on the SETTINGS tab -- Total Leads, Verified, Unverified, and Marketing Opt-In counts. A quick health check on every gate.
The REPORT tab -- a Download Activity table with one row per captured email: download time, email, name, position, company name, verification flag, marketing opt-in, company size, industry. The Export button pulls the list out for CRM import or finance handoff.

The Verified column tells you which visitors completed the email-validation flow (they clicked the link in their inbox). On gates with validation off, Unverified is everybody -- the column carries information when validation was on.

[Screenshot placeholder -- the REPORT tab Download Activity table for the "Q4 Whitepaper" share, showing rows with download time, email, name, position, company, an "Email Verified" tick column and a "Marketing" tick column, plus the Export button.]

The Download Activity table. Each row is a captured lead; the tick columns show whether the email was validated and whether they opted into marketing.

Try this: Set up a gate for one real asset with Email Validation on and the marketing checkbox on. Share it in a single channel -- one newsletter, one social post. A week later, open the REPORT tab, export the list, and look at the Verified column. Those are the leads worth a follow-up call. Compare the verified count to the raw submit count -- the gap is the noise validation just filtered out for you.

Frequently asked

How many files can one gate hand out?: One. Each share is one file with one audit trail. Replace Shared File swaps the file on an existing share when you have a new version; for a second asset, create a second share.
Does the gate share part of my NewsWire?: A gated share is independent of any Story NewsWire -- it exposes the single file you uploaded to that share. Use NewsWire for the campaign's full asset hub and Gated Content when you want one asset behind a lead-capture form.
When does the gate close?: Two ways. Set the optional Expiry Date for automatic closure, or flip the status to Inactive any time for a manual close. Visitors hitting a closed gate see your "no longer available" message.
What is the difference between Verified and Unverified leads?: Verified means the visitor completed the email-validation flow. Unverified means they downloaded directly. Validation off makes every lead Unverified by definition; turn validation on when the column needs to mean something.
What does the marketing checkbox actually do?: It records the visitor's consent choice against their download (and increments the Marketing Opt-In count). The platform stores the consent record; how you act on opt-ins is your decision -- EDM, newsletter, sales outreach.
What happens when the same person downloads twice?: One row per email per share. The existing row updates with the latest name, company, marketing choice and timestamp rather than creating a duplicate.

Key takeaways

A gated share is a public landing page around one uploaded file; the toll is an email-capture form plus reCAPTCHA.
Create it: name, upload, set Email Validation / marketing consent / expiry / notifications / branding, set status to Active.
Validation on = one-time link to the visitor's inbox before download; validation off = instant download. Validate when you plan to follow up.
The marketing checkbox records consent on the download; how the opted-in list is used is your call.
Read results on the SETTINGS stats bar and the REPORT tab's Download Activity table (with Export). Verified counts mean something when validation was on.
One share, one file, one audit trail. Expiry Date closes the gate automatically; Inactive closes it manually.