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How can I provide a downloadable file for applicants to complete and then upload to an application?
How can I provide a downloadable file for applicants to complete and then upload to an application?

Use cloud storage to provide a downloadable file that applicants can complete and upload to your Project.

Pam English avatar
Written by Pam English
Updated over a week ago

Sometimes organizations want to provide a downloadable file for applicants to upload to a particular application form. For example, you may have a budget worksheet that you'd like submitters download, fill out, then re-upload. To do this, you'll need to have access to a cloud storage service such as Google Drive, or Dropbox.

Below are instructions for how to use Google Drive to set this up within your Submittable Project. As a best practice, we recommend including the link to your downloadable file in a Text Block field, and then including a File Upload field just beneath that, for for re-upload of the file.

1. First you'll need to put your file into cloud based storage, so it can be accessed and download by anyone with a direct link. Google Drive is a great way to do this, as they offer 15 GB of free storage to anyone with a Google/Gmail account. If you don't already have a Google account, you can to follow these instructions to set one up.

2. Once you're signed into a Google account, navigate to www.gmail.com. You'll see a square comprised of 9 dots that looks like this in the upper right area of the page. Click this icon.

3. Then select the Drive icon seen below.

4. Click on the +New, then select either Folder or File. If you select Folder, you will be creating a new folder that can hold your downloadable file. If you select File, you will be uploading directly into the base folder of your Google Drive account.

5. Select the the file stored on your computer that you want your applicants to download.

6. After the file is uploaded into your Google Drive, right click the filename in Google Drive and select Get Link.

When the Get Link dialog box opens, be sure to select the drop down option for Anyone with the link. Click on Copy Link.


7. With the link copied, return to your Project/Form on Submittable.

8. We recommend sharing the link to your file as a hyperlink in the instructions of a Text Block form field. Drag a Text Block form field into your Form.

9. Type instructions into the Text Block field and use the link tool in the WYSIWYG format bar to connect text to your link from Google Drive.

10. You'll now see the selected text appear as a hyperlink. You can click on it to test that it takes you to the correct downloadable document.

11. We recommend dragging a File Upload field beneath the Text Block field. This will be where applicants can upload the completed document back to the Project on Submittable.

Once users view the file on Google Drive, they can download it by clicking on the download icon in the upper right area of the page.

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