Fileflare gives you several ways to revoke a customer’s download access — automatically when an order is cancelled or refunded, automatically when Shopify flags an order as fraudulent, or manually one order at a time. This page covers all of them, plus how to unblock when a flagged order turns out to be genuine.
Manual blocking via order expiration requires the Basic plan or higher. Automatic fraud blocking requires the Growth plan. The auto-block on cancelled or voided orders is on every plan, including Free.
When you’d use this
- A customer was just refunded or charged back, and you don’t want them keeping the files.
- A customer is sharing their download links, and you want to revoke just that order.
- Shopify flagged the order as high-risk fraud, and you want to hold delivery until you investigate.
- You need to deactivate every download in your store at once — for example, mid-migration to another platform.
Automatic blocking
Cancelled or voided orders
Fileflare automatically blocks downloads on any order that’s cancelled or voided in Shopify. No setup required, available on all plans. The customer’s download links return a “restricted” message instead of the file.
Fraud auto-block
When Shopify’s fraud analysis flags an order as medium or high risk, Fileflare can automatically block the order and skip the download email + Shopify fulfillment. This gives you time to review before the customer gets the files.
- Go to Fileflare → Settings → Global limitations.
- Find Block fraudulent orders and toggle it on.
- (Optional) Customize the message customers see when they hit a blocked link, in the same Global limitations page → Access restricted message.
- Save.
When a flagged order comes in: the download email won’t send, the products won’t fulfill in Shopify admin, and the download links will show your custom restricted message. You decide whether to release access from the order page (next section).
Manual blocking — single order
To block a specific order without affecting anyone else:
- Go to Fileflare → Orders.
- Click the order number.
- Uncheck Use global limitations.
- Set Expiration date of download links to a date in the past (e.g. yesterday).
- Save.
The order’s download links are now expired. The customer will see your “expired” message if they try to access them.
Manual blocking — every order in the store
If you need to deactivate every download across every order — for example, during a migration to a new platform or a temporary takedown — set the global expiration to a negative value:
- Go to Settings → Global limitations.
- In Order expiry, enter
-1. This expires every order’s links immediately. - (Optional) Customize the expired message in the same page so customers see something useful instead of a generic error.
- Save.
To restore access later, set the value back to a positive number (or 0 for no expiration).
Unblock a fraud-flagged order
If you’ve reviewed an order and confirmed it’s genuine, you can release access:
- Go to Fileflare → Orders.
- Click the order number.
- Toggle off Restrict access.
- Save.
The customer can now access their downloads. You may want to manually trigger a download email so they know — use Resend email on the same order page.
Common issues
- Customer says their download stopped working after a partial refund — when Shopify partially refunds an order, it briefly reports the order as fully refunded for several days before reconciling. Fileflare blocks downloads in that window. Workaround: in Shopify admin, create a new $0 order (use a 100% discount) for the same customer with the same products. The new order will deliver fresh download links.
- I unblocked the order but the email never sent automatically — by design. Auto-block also disables the auto-email. After unblocking, click Resend email on the order to send the download email manually.
- Cancelled order links still work briefly — Shopify webhooks can take a few seconds to a minute to deliver. If you need an instant block, set the order expiration manually rather than waiting on the cancellation webhook.
- I want to block downloads for one product across all orders — not currently supported as a one-click setting. Workarounds: delete the asset (revokes access for everyone, including past customers — use carefully), or set very low download limits and IP limits at the global level.