Guide
How to see who opened your shared document
Sending a document as a file attachment is a black box: you never know if it was opened, skimmed, or ignored. Sharing it as a tracked link tells you exactly how it landed. Here is how to see who opened your document and what they did with it.
What engagement analytics show you
When you share a document as a scrolly.net link, a small first-party script reports engagement back to your dashboard as the document is read. For each view you can see:
- When the document was opened, and from which country.
- How long the viewer stayed (reading time, not just a single open event).
- How far down they scrolled, so you know if they reached the ask on the last slide.
- The verified email address of the viewer, when the link is protected by an email gate or an allowlist.
Turn on tracking for a document
- Upload your .html document and create a share link for it.
- Pick an access mode. Any link is tracked; choose an email gate or allowlist if you want the viewer identified by a verified email rather than an anonymous view.
- Share the short link instead of the file. Every open from that link flows into the document analytics.
- Open the document analytics view to watch views, reading time, and scroll depth arrive within seconds of a view.
Know which recipient opened it
Give each recipient (or each firm) their own link to the same document. Because analytics are recorded per link, you can tell which recipient opened the document, how engaged they were, and who has not looked yet, all without sending different files.
You can also turn on a view notification email, so you get a heads-up the moment one of your documents is opened instead of having to check the dashboard.
How this respects viewer privacy
Analytics are first-party: there are no third-party advertising trackers, and the data is only ever shown to you, the document owner. Raw IP addresses are never stored. Where a network address is needed at all, it is passed immediately through a salted one-way hash, so the stored analytics keep only a coarse location, never a raw IP.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Can I see who opened my document, by name?
- Yes, when the link uses an email gate or an allowlist. The viewer verifies their email before opening, and that verified address is recorded with the view. Public and password links record an anonymous view with location, time, dwell, and scroll depth, but no email.
- How quickly do views show up?
- Within a few seconds. The engagement beacon reports as the document is being read, so views, reading time, and scroll depth appear in your dashboard almost immediately.
- Does the viewer know they are being tracked?
- The analytics are engagement metrics (time on page and scroll depth) reported by a first-party script, the same kind any analytics-enabled site uses. There are no third-party ad trackers, raw IP addresses are never stored, and the data is shown only to the document owner.
- Can I track each recipient separately?
- Yes. Create a separate link per recipient for the same document. Analytics are recorded per link, so you can tell exactly which recipient opened it and how engaged they were.