How FeatPaper works — the whole flow at a glance
FeatPaper shares a PDF as a link instead of a file, records who opened that link and how long they spent on each page, and turns those records into follow-up material for sales and IR teams. Upload a document and a share link is ready. Send it, and views land in your dashboard. Match your notification rules, and an alert goes out. Capture a contact, and it flows into Notion or Google Sheets. This page maps that whole picture rather than the click-by-click steps.
The four things FeatPaper does
Section titled “The four things FeatPaper does”Every feature falls into one of these four jobs.
- Shares as a link. You send a link, not an attachment. Recipients open it in a browser with no sign-up and no login.
- Records the view. Who opened it, which pages they spent time on, how often they returned, and which site referred them.
- Alerts you at the moment it matters. Email and Slack fire as soon as a document is opened.
- Moves contacts onward. Contacts captured by a lead form flow into Notion, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
The core mental model — alerts vs stored records
Section titled “The core mental model — alerts vs stored records”Nearly every feature belongs to one of two tracks.
Alerts — right now
These react the instant someone opens a document. View notifications are the main example. Each view is checked against your rules — audience and minimum interest level — and sent to email or Slack immediately. Open the same document twice and you can get two alerts, because alerts are judged per view. See Settings tour for the rules.
Stored records — for later
These organize engagement per person and build it up quietly. The Viewers tab, the Insights tab, and the Home KPIs live here, and repeat views by the same person collapse into one row. See document analytics for details.
Four metrics worth keeping straight
Section titled “Four metrics worth keeping straight”The same activity produces different numbers because each metric counts a different unit.
| Metric | Unit counted | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| View count | View (session) | How many times the document was opened. A return visit or a second tab adds another count. |
| Viewers (unique viewers) | Person | How many distinct people opened the document. Repeat views collapse into one. Someone with no contact details shows up as an anonymous viewer. |
| Contacts | Person | How many people submitted contact details through a lead form. Several submissions from one person still count once. |
| AI interest level | Person (cumulative) | A Hot, Warm, or Cold grade per viewer, calculated from that person’s full engagement history and recalculated on every return. |
For where each metric appears on screen, see document analytics. For space-wide totals, see Tour the Home screen.
The end-to-end flow
Section titled “The end-to-end flow”Upload — a general share link is created for you
Uploading a PDF creates a General share link for that document. Anyone with the link opens it right away, with nothing to fill in first. Add Per-recipient links when you want to tell recipients apart. → Share with a link
Optional — put a lead form in front
To collect an email before the document opens, set up a lead form and share the Info-required link. Every plan can do this. Only the Info-required link shows the form. The General share link and Per-recipient links open directly. → Set up a lead form
Viewing — pages, dwell time, and referrer are recorded
When the recipient opens the link, FeatPaper records which pages they spent time on, whether they returned, and which site referred them. While reading is in progress a Viewing badge replaces the interest level, which settles once the session ends. → document analytics
Alerts fire when the rules match
If the view matches your audience choice — per-recipient link, lead form submitter, or unknown — and clears your minimum interest level, an email or Slack alert goes out immediately. → Settings tour
Review per person in the dashboard
The Viewers tab on a document, and the Home screen, group repeat activity so you read it one person at a time.
Push the data onward
Send captured contacts to Notion, Google Sheets, or Zapier automatically, or export a CSV. CSV export needs Pro or above. → Connections
Four kinds of links
Section titled “Four kinds of links”One document can carry several links, and each link is tracked separately.
| Link | What it is for | Collects contacts? |
|---|---|---|
| General share link | Anyone opens the document immediately, with nothing to fill in. One is created automatically per document. | No |
| Info-required link | Only people who enter details such as name and email can open the document. | Yes |
| AI-public link | A public link you post on your site or blog so AI search can cite it. No lead form can be attached. | No |
| Per-recipient links | A dedicated link per recipient so you can tell who opened what. Starter 3 · Pro 10 · Business and Enterprise unlimited. | No |
To publish links from several documents together as one page, use a data room. See Share with a link for the details.
Security is set per link
Section titled “Security is set per link”| Control | What it does | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Password | Asks for a password before the link opens. This control lives on the link only and is never inherited from the document. | All plans |
| Email allow list | Only listed addresses can open this link. Use @example.com to allow a whole domain. | All plans |
| Viewing period | Limits how long the link stays open — 7 days, 1 month, or a date you pick. | Pro and above |
| PDF download | Decides whether the original PDF can be downloaded from the viewer. | Pro and above |
Every one of these is stored per link, so changing one link leaves the others alone. See Share with a link for how to set them.
Where alerts are tuned
Section titled “Where alerts are tuned”Two layers work together. Settings > Notifications holds your account-level defaults, and each link has its own View notification toggle.
- Audience — pick from per-recipient link openers, lead form submitters, and unknown (anonymous) viewers.
- Minimum interest level — All, Warm and above, or Hot only. Turn on Always notify on repeat views to send an alert even when the grade falls short.
- Repeat notification cooldown — skip repeat alerts when the same person reopens the same document within 30 minutes, 6 hours, or 24 hours. The default sends every time.
- Channels — email and Slack are toggled separately.
- Language — alerts go out in the language you pick from the globe icon at the top of the screen: English, Korean, or Japanese.
Alerts are evaluated per view, so without a cooldown the same person can trigger several alerts. See Settings tour for the full rules.
How long data stays visible
Section titled “How long data stays visible”If a link ends up somewhere it should not, disable that single link and the rest keep working. To close the whole document, use Disable this document’s link now at the bottom of the share settings. Either way your analytics data stays intact and you can re-enable at any time. Anyone opening a disabled or expired link sees a dedicated screen reading “This link is unavailable or has expired.” See Share with a link.
Integrations — contacts into your team’s tools
Section titled “Integrations — contacts into your team’s tools”Connect the account once
Connect Slack and Notion under Settings > Connections. Slack is an alert channel. The per-document integrations below are what build rows of contacts. → Connections
Pick the destination per document
From the toolbar of a document’s Viewers tab, choose the Notion database or Google Sheets file for that document. Integrations are set per document, so you cannot point separate links at separate destinations.
Rows are added automatically
Every lead form submission adds a row to the destination. Only contacts who submitted the lead form are sent, and other viewers are not.
In the plan comparison table, Notion, Google Sheets, and Zapier integrations sit at Business and above. To connect contacts you already capture through a website form or Typeform, use external form integration, also Business and above. → Set up a lead form
Which screen for which job
Section titled “Which screen for which job”| What you want | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Know the moment a proposal is opened | Turn on the link’s View notification toggle, then tune Settings > Notifications |
| Build up contacts like a CRM | Set up a lead form, then connect Notion under Connections |
| Get fewer alerts | In Settings > Notifications, turn off unknown viewers, raise the minimum to Warm, and enable Repeat notification cooldown |
| Follow up with the warmest people first | Sort by interest level in the Viewers tab and check interest changes — see document analytics |
| Share a confidential document | In Share with a link, set an email allow list or password, add a viewing period, and turn off PDF download |
| Connect a website form | Use external form integration in Set up a lead form — Business and above |
| Get a document cited by AI search | Post the AI-public link from the Share tab on your site or blog |
Ways to use this — one full lap around the flow
Section titled “Ways to use this — one full lap around the flow”Here is how the steps above actually connect, in the two patterns people reach for most.
Both patterns use a single document. All that changes is which link you send and how it is configured. Send the file as an attachment instead and none of this is recorded, while the material travels on to whoever the recipient forwards it to.
Frequently asked questions
Section titled “Frequently asked questions”I got two notifications but the Viewers tab shows one person.
Alerts are evaluated one view at a time, while the Viewers tab groups a person’s views into a single row. If the same person opens the document twice and matches your rules twice, you get two alerts and still see one person. That gap is the difference between per-view and per-person counting. To cut down repeats, enable Repeat notification cooldown under Settings > Notifications.
My customer says they opened it once, but the view count says 2.
View count measures how many times the document was opened, so reopening it or using a second tab adds a count. To see how many people read it, look at viewers instead. That number collapses repeat views by the same person.
Do my own views of my document get counted?
When the document owner is logged in and opens their own document, that activity is excluded from the statistics. The exclusion applies only when the logged-in identity matches the owner, so anonymous views from other people who used a link you shared are still counted normally.
If someone reads anonymously and later leaves an email, do the records merge?
They can. A matching email — case and spaces ignored — or a matching phone number compared by digits links the records into one person even across devices. An anonymous session that connects to exactly one identity merges as well. Different emails or phone numbers never merge, even on the same PC and browser. That rule keeps a stale cookie on a shared computer from mixing two people. Views with no email or phone at all stay as separate rows.
I sent a link to the wrong place. What now?
Disable that one link and the others keep working. To close every link on the document at once, use Disable this document’s link now at the bottom of the share settings. Neither action deletes the analytics collected so far, and you can re-enable once things settle. See Share with a link.
Does the recipient need a FeatPaper account?
No. Anyone with the share link opens the document in a browser with no sign-up and no login. Only the Info-required link asks for details such as name and email before the document opens.
Can Slack collect contacts as a table?
No. Slack works as an account-level alert channel under Settings > Connections. The integrations that build rows of contacts are Notion, Google Sheets, and Zapier, and you configure them on the document.
Key points
Section titled “Key points”- FeatPaper shares PDFs as links and records engagement per person so you can follow up.
- There are four link types: General share link, Info-required link, AI-public link, and Per-recipient links.
- Alerts count views; the dashboard counts people. Different numbers are expected.
- Passwords and email allow lists are on every plan. Viewing periods and PDF download control need Pro.
- Starter shows view counts and summaries with no time limit, and per-viewer detail for 7 days after upload.
Learn more
Section titled “Learn more”Get started with FeatPaper
Walk from sign-up through your first upload in order.
Share with a link
Compare the four link types and the security controls on each.
See who read your document
Read view counts, viewers, and interest levels in detail.
Tour the Home screen (KPI overview)
See your whole space summarized on one screen.