Help

Each box has one private link. Send it to your client. Anyone with the link can see the box, add files and notes while it is open, and download its files, so share it only with your client.

The link is shown once, when you make the box. If you lose it, or it reached the wrong person, use "New client link" in the box's More menu. The old link stops working at once.

Closing a box stops new uploads and frees its slot. Your client can still see and download the files during the hold period.

Boxes take any file type: images, PSD, Clip Studio, Procreate, PDF, fonts, brushes, 3D models, and video. Programs and scripts (such as .exe, .bat, or .dmg) are blocked, because refDrop does not scan files for viruses. Be careful with .zip files from people you do not know.

Each box holds up to 2 GB and 1,000 files on the free plan, 10 GB on the paid plans. Your client sees how much room is left on the upload page. Files keep their full size; nothing is compressed.

refDrop makes previews for JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF, and HEIC images up to 50 MB. Other files show as a card with their name and size.

Files stay while a box is open. After you close it, the originals are kept for 3 months on the free plan, 6 months on the paid plans. We email you, and your client if they left an email, 30 days and 7 days before they are removed.

Then the box becomes an archive. Images keep their small previews; other files keep only their name and size. Download anything you want to keep before the date on the box page. You can also archive a closed box early with "Archive now", or delete an archive.

"Download all" gets every file in a box as one zip, sorted into References and Deliveries. Each upload session also has its own download.

"Import to refern" opens the box in the refern desktop app as a folder, with its files, tags, status, and notes, and keeps it up to date while refern runs.

Your public page can take requests: a client describes the idea, a budget, a deadline, and adds up to 10 reference images. A request reaches you only after the client confirms their email. Accept it to make a box with the references, or decline it with a short, polite email. You can also block or report a sender.

refDrop never handles money. You keep taking payment the way you do now, such as PayPal, Ko-fi, Stripe, or VGen. You can add payment and shop links as buttons on your public page and, if you choose, on your box pages.

refDrop is free to start. The free plan has 5 open boxes, 2 GB per box, files kept 3 months after a box closes, and 25 GB for all your files. It stays free after the beta; the beta only limits how many artists join.

Paid plans are billed as refern Cloud: one subscription covers refDrop and the refern web library. Cloud is $5 a month or $48 a year, with 25 open boxes, 10 GB per box, files kept 6 months, 200 GB in all, and a web library of 5 GB, about 20,000 items. Cloud Plus is $10 a month or $96 a year, with 50 open boxes, 300 GB in all, and a web library of 20 GB, about 80,000 items. Paying yearly saves 20%.

Paid plans are not open yet, so nothing can be bought today. The prices above are the prices they open at.

Boxes and the web library are separate allowances, so a full library never stops a client upload. A refern desktop license lets you skip the waitlist and gives a free web library of 1 GB, about 4,000 items, but no extra boxes. Invite rewards add 5 open boxes on every plan.

Adult art is allowed in private boxes and requests. On your public page, mark adult examples as adult: visitors then see a notice and click through before they see them, and those images never appear in link previews. Anything involving minors is never allowed.

You can delete an archive from its box page. To delete your whole account and all its data, write to refDrop support.

You do not need an account. Open the link the artist sent you, then drop in images and files or write a note. Each time you add files, they are kept together as one upload, so the artist sees what came in together.

The upload page shows how much room is left in the box. Programs and scripts are blocked.

Only the artist and people with the link. Do not post the link in public. If it gets out, ask the artist for a new link.

Finished work arrives on the same link, as the artist's delivery. Accept it, or ask for changes. Leave your email on the box page to get an email when files arrive and before they are removed. You can remove your email at any time.

Download your files before the box is archived. The box page shows the date.

refDrop never handles money and cannot refund a payment. Pay the artist the way you agreed with them, and contact them about any payment question.