Migrating to Fileflare from another digital-downloads app — Shopify’s built-in Digital Downloads, SendOwl, Fetch App, EDP, or anything else — is mostly a question of pacing. The trick is to set Fileflare up in parallel without disrupting your existing customers’ delivery, then flip over once everything’s tested.
Available on all plans. Fileflare runs alongside any other digital-downloads app on Shopify without conflict. You can leave the old app delivering files until the moment you’re ready to switch.
When you’d use this
- You’re on Shopify’s built-in Digital Downloads and have outgrown it (no protection, no email tracking, single-file-per-product limit).
- You’re on SendOwl, Fetch, EDP, or another app and want stronger sharing protection or better delivery surfaces.
- You want PDF stamping, IP limits, customer-account downloads, or any of the features your current app doesn’t have.
Migration steps
1. Install Fileflare
Install Fileflare from the Shopify App Store alongside your existing app. It won’t conflict — both apps can run in parallel during setup.
2. Pause Fileflare delivery while you set up
If your store has live orders, you don’t want Fileflare double-delivering files while your existing app is still running. Two settings to flip:
- Go to Settings → Emails, enable Disable all order download emails, save.
- Go to Settings → Checkout settings, disable Display download links on checkout page, save.
These will be re-enabled at the end of the migration.
3. Upload your files to Fileflare
There’s no automatic transfer from another app. You’ll need to either re-download from the old app or grab the originals from your computer, then upload to Fileflare.
- Direct upload: Assets → Upload new assets. Works for most stores.
- Bring your own storage: connect R2 or S3 if you have a lot of files or want to control storage costs.
- URL assets: if your files live on Dropbox/Drive/etc., create URL assets instead of re-uploading.
4. Attach files to your Shopify products
Shopify products auto-sync to Fileflare’s Products page — no need to recreate them. Click into a product and use the search box to attach the files you uploaded.
If you have hundreds of products to attach, the bulk CSV import is much faster than one-by-one.
5. Configure delivery surfaces
Decide where customers will access downloads:
- Email delivery — on by default, all plans.
- Thank-you page downloads — Basic and above.
- Customer account downloads — Premium.
- Shopify order confirmation email link — Basic and above.
Most stores use email plus customer accounts; many also use thank-you page links for instant access.
6. Test before flipping
Place a test order on your store using a 100% discount code. Confirm: the digital line item gets fulfilled, you receive the download email, and links work.
7. Flip over
- In Fileflare, re-enable email delivery and thank-you page links (the settings you disabled in step 2).
- Disable your old digital-downloads app. For Shopify’s Digital Downloads, you may need to remove the file from each product to deactivate it. For other apps, follow their uninstall instructions.
- Optional: import past orders so existing customers can re-download via Fileflare — see Import past orders.
Why move from Shopify’s Digital Downloads
Shopify’s built-in app is a minimal solution. It works, but it doesn’t scale. Common reasons stores migrate:
- Single file per product (Fileflare: unlimited).
- No customer account downloads.
- No email tracking, no email customization.
- No protection (no PDF stamping, no IP limits, no fraud blocking).
- 5 GB per-file cap (Fileflare: no per-file limit).
- No upgrade path — you’re stuck with what’s there.
Common issues
- Old app keeps sending emails after I disabled it — confirm you’ve actually deactivated the old app’s delivery setting (varies by app). Some apps require uninstalling, not just toggling off.
- Customer says they got two download emails — both apps are still active. Either disable Fileflare’s emails or disable the old app’s emails. Don’t run both.
- Past customers can’t access downloads from the old app — old links from the old app keep working until you uninstall it. Once uninstalled, customers need to use Fileflare’s links. Use the import past orders tool to give them Fileflare-backed access.