Hosting Your Own Files (PDFs, Menus, Price Lists) on QR Code Pro

Why This Exists

A QR code has to point somewhere. If your document already lives on your website, you paste the link and you are done.

The problem is documents that live nowhere. Many businesses end up putting a price list or a spec sheet into a personal Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive account purely to get a link for a QR code. That works, but it has real drawbacks:

1. The file sits in an account owned by one employee, not by the business.
2. If that person leaves or reorganises their drive, the printed QR code breaks.
3. Consumer drive links often show a preview or sign-in page rather than the document itself.
4. The document stays associated with a personal account rather than your company.

File hosting puts the document in your QR Code Pro account instead.

Which Plans Include It

File hosting is included on the 14-day free trial and on Pro+ and above. See File Hosting Storage Limits for the exact allowance on each plan.

The 14-Day Trial includes it too, with a smaller allowance — 10 MB in total, 5 MB per file — so you can upload a real document and watch the whole thing work before deciding. The Pro plan (R99/month) does not include hosting; on Pro the upload panel still appears in the generator, but shows an upgrade prompt instead of an upload button.

How to Upload a File

1. Go to Generator (/generate).
2. Choose a file-based QR type: PDF, Image, Video or Audio.
3. In the destination section you will see both a link field and an upload panel.
4. Drag your file onto the panel, or click it to browse.
5. When the upload finishes, the destination link fills in automatically.
6. Finish designing your code and save as normal.

You do not have to upload. The link field is still there, and pasting a link is still the better answer for anything that already lives on your website or on YouTube.

Which File Types Are Accepted

Two rules are worth knowing about.

We check the file itself, not its name. Renaming a .docx to .pdf will not get it through. We read the first few bytes of every upload to confirm it really is what it claims to be, and the file type also has to match the QR type you picked.

SVG images are not accepted. An SVG can contain scripts, and it would be served from our own domain, so allowing them would create a security hole affecting every customer. Export your artwork as PNG or WebP instead.

Replacing a File Later

This is the main advantage over a printed link. Because your QR code is dynamic, you can:

1. Upload the new version of the document.
2. Point the existing QR code at the new file.
3. Delete the old file to free up your storage.

The printed code does not change. Anyone who scans it gets the current document.

Important: Who Can Open Your File

Please read this before uploading anything confidential.

Hosted files are served from a long, random, unguessable web address. Nobody can find your file by browsing, guessing or searching, and it is not listed anywhere public.

However, the file is not password protected at the file level. Anyone who has the address can open it. That is deliberate: a QR code has to work instantly for a customer standing in front of a poster, and a login screen would defeat the purpose.

In practice this means:

1. Good fit: price lists, menus, brochures, spec sheets, catalogues, instruction manuals, warranty documents. Material you are happy to hand to any customer who asks.
2. Not a good fit: contracts, identity documents, payroll, medical records, anything containing another person's personal information, or anything you would be uncomfortable with a stranger reading.

If you need the document gated, add password protection to the QR code so the visitor must enter a passcode before being sent on. See Password Protecting a QR Code.

Deleting Files

The upload panel in the generator lists everything you have uploaded, with its size. Deleting a file frees the space immediately.

Be careful: if a live QR code points at a file you delete, that code stops working. Repoint the code first, then delete.

Two things deletion cannot undo. Anyone who already opened the file may still have it saved on their phone, and for up to a minute afterwards our cache can still serve a copy to someone who already has the exact link. If a document is sensitive enough that a minute matters, gate the QR code with a passcode from the start rather than relying on deleting it later.

Troubleshooting

"This file does not look like a valid PDF" means the file is corrupt, or it is not actually the format its name suggests. Open it on your computer to confirm, then re-export it.

"File is too large" means you have hit the per-file ceiling, which is separate from your total allowance. Compressing a PDF (most PDF tools have a "reduce file size" or "optimise" option) usually solves this, and also makes the document load faster for the person scanning.

"You have used your storage allowance" means the account total is full. Delete files you no longer need, or upgrade. Storage is counted across your whole account, not per QR code.

The upload button is missing because your plan does not include file hosting, or your subscription has lapsed. Existing files stay available to scan, but you cannot add new ones until billing is current.