You found a file online that you need to share. The normal workflow: download it to your computer, wait, then upload it to your file sharing service, wait again. If the file is large, you might be waiting twice for the same data.
FileGrab’s Download from URL feature skips both waits. Paste the URL, and FileGrab pulls the file directly into your link from the source. The file never touches your device.
Why This Matters
Large files without the storage
A 1.5 GB video tutorial lives on a server somewhere. Downloading it to your laptop eats storage and bandwidth. Then uploading it again doubles the time. With Download from URL, you paste the link once and walk away. FileGrab handles it server-to-server.
Works from your phone
This is where it really shines. You’re on your phone, someone sends you a link to a large file, and you need to share it with your team. Downloading a 500 MB file to your phone is impractical — it eats your data plan and storage. Instead, open FileGrab, paste the URL, and let the server do the work. Your phone does nothing but send a short request.
Queue it and close the browser
Once you submit the URL, the download is queued on FileGrab’s servers. You can close the browser tab, put your phone away, or shut your laptop. The download continues in the background. When it finishes, the file appears in your link automatically with thumbnails and previews generated.
How to Use It
- Open your FileGrab link
- Click the add menu (the ”+” button in your file list)
- Select Download from URL
- Paste the file URL
- Click Download
FileGrab checks the URL first — verifying the file exists, checking the size, and making sure it fits within your storage quota. If everything looks good, the download is queued and you’ll see it appear in your file list.
Progress updates show you how far along the download is. Once complete, the file gets the same treatment as any upload: thumbnails, video previews, streaming, and transcription are all generated automatically.
What You Can Download
Any publicly accessible file URL works. Direct download links from cloud storage, file hosting services, CDNs, and web servers. If you can open the URL in a browser and it starts downloading, FileGrab can grab it.
Common sources:
- Cloud storage share links that resolve to a direct download
- CDN or hosting URLs for media files
- Public file servers with direct download links
- Any URL that returns a file when accessed
Limitations
File size limits still apply. Free accounts can download files up to 500 MB. Pro accounts can download files up to 2 GB — the same limits as regular uploads.
Storage quota still applies. The downloaded file counts against your account storage just like any other upload.
Encrypted links are not supported. Download from URL requires server-side processing, which is incompatible with end-to-end encrypted links where files must be encrypted in your browser before upload.
The source must be publicly accessible. URLs that require login, session cookies, or authentication won’t work. The file needs to be reachable by a direct HTTP request.
Rate limited to 10 downloads per minute. This prevents abuse while still allowing you to queue up a batch of files.
How It Works Behind the Scenes
When you submit a URL, FileGrab first probes the source to get the filename, file size, and type without downloading the full file. It then reserves storage in your quota and queues the download.
For large files, the download happens in chunks. If the source server supports it, FileGrab uses range requests to download pieces at a time, uploading each chunk to storage as it goes. If the connection drops or the server is slow, it picks up where it left off rather than starting over.
This chunked approach means even multi-gigabyte files complete reliably, because no single step needs to hold the entire file in memory.
When to Use It
- Sharing a file you found online without downloading it first
- Large files from your phone where downloading to the device is impractical
- Batch operations where you need to pull multiple files from different sources into one link
- Saving bandwidth when you’d otherwise download and re-upload the same data
The feature turns FileGrab into a bridge between any public URL and your shareable link, without your device sitting in the middle.
Try it now — create a link and paste a URL to see it in action.