Public URLs & Versioning
A generated PDF is a file inside Salesforce — great for your team, invisible to your tenant. A public link changes that: anyone holding the URL can view the document, no login required, which is exactly what an emailed invoice link needs to be. REDA Financials manages those links with the same discipline as the documents themselves — including taking them back when a document is reopened or cancelled.
Access you'll need. Anyone who can open a record can copy and send its Generated PDF URL. Turning the territory switch on or off requires the Accounting Admin v2 or Accounting Controller v2 permission set; the Accounts Payable v2, Accounts Receivable v2, and Read Only v2 sets can view territories but not change them.
Turning public links on
The switch lives on the Territory: Generate Public URL for PDFs. Its own help text says it plainly: "If checked, generated PDFs get a public link (anyone with the URL can view). If unchecked, files attach privately. Public links email well and don't require login." With it on, every generation — manual or automatic — creates the link and stamps it into the record's Generated PDF URL field; the confirmation toast tells you which mode you're in ("A public link has been created…" vs "PDF saved to Files…").
Putting the switch on the territory makes it a regional policy, not a per-document choice: every entity in the region follows it, for every generation, and the setting is read fresh on each run — flip it and the very next generation (including a regeneration of an old document) obeys the new policy. Editing territories is administrator work, which is exactly the right ceremony for deciding whether paper leaves the building without a login.
| The toast says… | You're in… |
|---|---|
| "A public link has been created. Opening in a new tab." | Public mode — the link is on the record in Generated PDF URL, ready to send |
| "PDF saved to Files. Opening in a new tab." | Private mode — the tab shows the internal file, which only logged-in users can open; share by attaching the file |
Versioning: one file, many versions, one link
- Regeneration never duplicates. Each generation adds a new version of the same file — the Files list shows one document whose history holds every rendering ever produced.
- The public URL stays stable. A link you emailed last week serves the newest version today — regenerate after a correction and the customer's link shows the corrected paper without re-sending.
- The link doesn't expire on its own. It lives until the system takes it back:
| Document event | Link | File |
|---|---|---|
| Reopened (unposted) | Revoked — the public URL stops working immediately | Kept in Files, for the audit trail |
| Voided | Gone | Deleted — cancelled paper doesn't circulate |
| Re-posted & regenerated | A fresh link is created | Versions up as usual |
Alongside the link itself, the record keeps score: Generated PDF URL holds the link (empty in private mode), PDF Generated At the last success, and both are cleared when the document is unposted or voided — an empty URL field is itself information.
Working privately
With the territory switch off, generation is identical except no link is created — files live in the record's Files, and you share by attaching the file itself. Organizations often mix modes by region: public links where tenants expect self-serve, private-only where policy demands attachments.
Common mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Copying the address bar of the new tab in private mode and emailing it | That's an internal file address — the customer hits a login screen and you hear about it days later | Send only what's in Generated PDF URL; if it's empty, you're in private mode — attach the file |
| Assuming links quietly expire | They don't — a link lives until the document is reopened or voided, months or years on | Treat every sent link as live; rely on the unpost/void revocations, or have an admin remove a link deliberately |
| Expecting a reopened purchase order's link to die like an invoice's | It keeps serving — the one document type reopening doesn't revoke | For POs that must vanish immediately, remove the file's public link manually (or void the document) |
| Re-sending a "new" link after every correction | Needless noise — and it trains customers to expect replacement links | Regenerate and say nothing: the original link now serves the corrected version |
| Enabling the territory switch as a quick favor to one team | Every entity in the region starts issuing no-login links for every document type | Decide per region, with the same care as any data-sharing policy — that's why the switch sits on the territory |
Where to go next
- Generating PDFs — where links come from.
- Sales Invoice PDF — the invoice flow with links in context.
- Supported Document Types — what can carry a link.
Frequently asked questions
The Generated PDF URL field on the document (the generation screen also opens it in a new tab — copy from the address bar). Empty field = private mode or no generation yet.
Almost always because the document was reopened (link revoked) or voided (file deleted). Check the document's status; once it's re-posted and regenerated, send the fresh link.
Your administrator can remove the underlying public link from the file's sharing settings. The document-driven revocations (unpost/void) cover the common cases automatically.
Not by themselves — the setting is read at generation time. Regenerate any document (its file simply versions up) and the link is created and stamped into Generated PDF URL.
The link allows viewing and downloading — that's what an emailed invoice link is for. No notification is sent when someone opens it; if you need proof of delivery, that's your email channel's job.
No — the statement export is print-oriented: it renders in your browser for saving or printing and isn't stored on a record, so there's nothing to link to. Only the transaction documents (invoices, credit memos, receipts, vouchers, purchase orders) carry links.
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