Problem / Limitation with iCloud Drive File Sharing

[arc of the universe]

iOS26.2 on iPhone.

i open file in Files app.
i click on share.
it asks me how i want to share (like, Messages or Mail).
it positions the file automatically in that app (like Messages).
i click on send copy.
i hit send.

you could also make a shortcut for the above flow, as well.

 

[jldel]

iOS26.2 on iPhone.

i open file in Files app.
i click on share.
it asks me how i want to share (like, Messages or Mail).
it positions the file automatically in that app (like Messages).
i click on send copy.
i hit send.

you could also make a shortcut for the above flow, as well.

I thank you for the suggestion but I am primarily talking about on a Mac.

That being said, the iPhone workaround you mentioned doesn't address what I want to do. I want to be able to easily generate a link (like I can do in Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, etc) which I can save or cut/paste in messages, mail, What's App, etc, so that when I want to send that same file to someone else at a later date, I pull up that link and send it.

One work around I came up with is to do multistep sharing process I noted above, and then send the file via the Message app to myself. Then open Message, go to that message and then copy the link. But again, this is 2025, there should be a simple contextual menu choice "copy link" or "generate link."

Alternately: I can just stick with OneDrive, which does exactly what I want. I just wanted to try to stick to all-Apple ecosystem parts.

 

[bradman83]

What macOS version are you on? Do you not have the "Invite With Link" option in the Share panel? Sharing an iCloud document, selecting Collaborate, and setting the options that Anyone with the link can View only, then selecting Invite With Link and it will automatically copy a hyperlink to your clipboard to share. (This is on macOS 26.2).

Keep in mind this won't solve the second part of your issue, which is that iCloud only supports viewing certain document types (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, specifically) in the browser, anything else including mundane file types like PDFs and JPEGs will give the prompt you screenshot to download or add to their own iCloud Drive.

 

[jldel]

What macOS version are you on? Do you not have the "Invite With Link" option in the Share panel? Sharing an iCloud document, selecting Collaborate, and setting the options that Anyone with the link can View only, then selecting Invite With Link and it will automatically copy a hyperlink to your clipboard to share. (This is on macOS 26.2).

Keep in mind this won't solve the second part of your issue, which is that iCloud only supports viewing certain document types (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, specifically) in the browser, anything else including mundane file types like PDFs and JPEGs will give the prompt you screenshot to download or add to their own iCloud Drive.
View attachment 2590781

I am on Tahoe (26.1), and yes, your observation is 100% on point. I can do the collaborate selection you indicate (in spite of the fact I am looking to collaborate), but the problem then remains that the link generate only allows you to "view" Apple proprietary document type in your browser -- but only if you are on an Apple device. And for -- and I love your description -- "mundane file types like PDFs andJPGs" even if you have an Apple device you have to download it or add it to your iCloud drive (and if you don't use an Apple device, your only option is to download the file to your non-icloud drive).

It seems to me that Apple which does a lot so well, dropped the ball on this aspect of its iCloud drive sharing regimen.

 

[jldel]

[I am moving this topic over from another forum section as it more properly belongs in a Mac OS topic area]
Note: I am using Tahoe 26.1, bit the problem isn't unique to Tahoe.

I don't understand why trying to share a file in iCloud drive is so difficult. About 99% of the time when I want to share a file I don't want people to collaborate, I just want to share the file (like a PDF or graphic, or even a Word-file, etc). I simply want to text that link to different people -- perhaps at different times in the midst of different conversations. For example, I have a two page PDF extract of a large "Best Albums of All Time" article from the London Telegraph). If I want to share that with some folks -- some with iPhones, some with Android, etc.:

1. If doing this in Microsoft OneDrive (in Finder)
- I right click a file and select "Copy Link" from the contextual menu
- A dialog box comes up, I select the option to make the file link "view only" and copy the link
- I then send the link in a text and voila, if it is a PDF, they see the PDF.

In ensuing days, I might think to share that link with other folks here and there when we are in contact. It's easy-breezy!

Not so with iCloud, not so.

2. If doing this in iCloud Drive (in Finder)
- I have to right click "Share," (which when just wanting to "send copy" amazingly doesn't give me an option to create a link).
- Thus, Apple forces me to lie, and say I want to collaborate (which I don't)
- This then hen it gives me the oppornuity to "invite" other to collaborate by link.
- But I don't want them to collaborate, so I have to change the setting to allow them to "view" only
- Then I have to change another setting to make the file available to anyone with the link.
- I then send the link in a text and kerplunk, if it is a PDF (or any other file for that matter), they see an iCloud specific options screen.

This is not easy-breezy, it is funky-clunky, but that would be okay, if only the outcome was like that of OneDrive. But it isn't.

Picture 1: Here's what the OneDrive link gives the recipient of the link when they click -- the article on best albums of all time (or at least my three album, two page, excerpt on two pages of album #48-50) .

Picture 2: Here's what the iCloud Drive link gives the recipient of the link when they click -- a chance to add this file to their iCloud Drive (adding to their Drive) or downloading it (adding it to their Drive or Desktop or Downloads, etc).

Note: Both OneDrive's sharing for this file and iCloud Drive's sharing were both set to allow "Anyone" with the Link can "View" the file. Obviously Apple doesn't understand the word "view" (Oxford dictionary defines this as "look at or inspect something"). Since a large majority people do not have (or don't use) iCloud, the add to iCloud button is an odd default, while the option to "download a copy" (which works fine) is besides the point: I want people to click on the link and VIEW (Apple's words, not mine).

My question is this: Is there a way to right/context click a file in iCloud Drive (in the Finder), and simply "copy link" as you can do in Google Drive, OneDrive and even Box?

I am Apple guy and have been so since 1985, but iCloud Drive is a blindspot in Apple's vision. It ranks down the list from the Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Box -- it needs to be overhauled, and it remains the only Apple feature/system software I don't use on a regular basis.