Guide
How to share an HTML file as a link
Updated 30 October 2026
To share an HTML file so people see the page, put it on a host that serves it and send the link. Email, Google Drive, SharePoint, Teams and Slack pass the file along, and each reader downloads it and opens it from their disk. Netlify Drop, tiiny.host and GitHub Pages render it, mostly for anyone who has the link. ashare.net renders it and lets you choose who opens it: everyone on your company’s email domain, specific people by email, or anyone with a password.
The ways compared
| Way | Renders the page | Who can see it | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email attachment | Only after the reader downloads it and opens it | Whoever gets the email, and anyone they forward it to | Free; personal Gmail sends up to 25 MB |
| Google Drive | No; treated as a code file, hosting ended in 2016 | People you add, your organization, or anyone with the link | Part of your Google account |
| SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive | No; it downloads. Renamed to .aspx, only with an admin’s help | People in your organization, guests if allowed | Part of Microsoft 365 |
| Slack | No; a file to download, on desktop only | People in the conversation | Part of Slack |
| Netlify Drop | Yes | Anyone with the URL when public; private is owner-only on Free; a shared password on Pro | Drop is free; password on Pro, $20 a month |
| tiiny.host | Yes | Anyone with the link; a password from Solo; visitor email capture from Pro | Free for 1 page with a banner, files up to 3 MB; Solo $13 a month billed yearly |
| GitHub Pages | Yes | Anyone on the internet, even from a private repository; private sites only on GitHub Enterprise Cloud | Free with a public repository |
| ashare.net | Yes, HTML, Markdown or a ZIP of a small site | Your company’s email domain, up to 100 emails, or anyone with the link, with an optional password and expiry | Free with 50 MB for personal-email accounts; Pro $5 a month or $48 a year, 10 GB; Company $30 a month for the whole domain, 30 GB, 30-day trial without a card |
Sending the file by email
Yes, you can send an .html file as an attachment. Gmail’s list of blocked file types doesn’t include .html, and Outlook blocks .hta, .mht and .mhtml but not .html. The recipient downloads the file and opens it in a browser, where its scripts and styles run from their disk. Personal Gmail sends attachments up to 25 MB; a bigger file goes as a Google Drive link instead.
That is fine for one person and one version. Past that, every reader has a separate copy, a fix means a new email, and the file travels on with every forward.
Google Drive, SharePoint, Teams and Slack
The tools your company already uses store the file but do not serve it as a page.
- Google Drive stopped hosting web pages in 2016 and lists .html among its code file types. Google Sites and Apps Script can render it. See Share an HTML file on Google Drive.
- SharePoint and Teams download an .html file. Renaming it to .aspx works only for a site owner, after a SharePoint admin allows custom script for up to 24 hours. See Host an HTML file on SharePoint or Teams.
- Slack keeps it as a file to download, and on a phone Slack downloads only images. See Share an HTML file in Slack.
Static hosts
Netlify Drop, tiiny.host and GitHub Pages serve the file as a page at a URL. For a page meant for everyone, like a portfolio, a landing page or public docs, they are the right tool, and GitHub Pages costs nothing with a public repository.
They are built for public sites, though. Netlify Drop needs no account, and a shared password takes the Pro plan. tiiny.host adds a password from its Solo plan. GitHub Pages sites are public on the internet even when the repository is private, unless your organization is on GitHub Enterprise Cloud. A shared password also leaks with the link: anyone who has both can open the page and pass them on. See Password-protect an HTML page.
Which way to pick
- One person, one time: attach the file to an email.
- Anyone on the internet: a static host.
- Only your company: a link open to your email domain, on ashare.net, or SharePoint with your admin’s help.
- A client or a few people outside: a link for their emails, or with a password and an expiry.
For a side-by-side look at hosts that keep a page private, see Private HTML hosting.
Share it on ashare.net
- Upload the .html or .md file, or a ZIP of a site with
index.html, on My documents. Or let your agent publish it over MCP, the CLI or a GitHub Action: connect it. - Choose who opens it. A new document is private. Pick Company for everyone who signs in with an email on your domain, add people by email, or make it public with a password and an expiry.
- Send the link. Readers type their email and a 6-digit code from the letter, or sign in with Google or Microsoft. No account to create.
Someone not on the list sees “You don’t have access” and can ask you in. For private and company documents you see who opened it and when. Readers can select text and comment; each fix is a new version at the same link, and readers can compare any two. Plans side by side: Pricing.
ashare.net: your agent publishes HTML or Markdown and you choose who opens it: your company, specific emails or a password. Readers comment, the agent fixes the document.
Connect your agent