AccessDrop"Google Drive can't scan this file for viruses" isn't a verdict
It looks like Google found something wrong. What it actually means, almost always, is that the file is too big to scan at all.
A buyer downloads their file from the Drive link in your delivery PDF and gets a page that says Google Drive can't scan this file for viruses, with a button to download anyway. Nothing is wrong with the file. They've just paid you, and the first thing Google shows them looks like a warning.
Why this hits digital sellers specifically
Etsy's own upload limit is 20MB a file — see Etsy's digital download file size limit — which is exactly why sellers with a bigger product (a finished video, a large pattern collection, a font family with every weight) deliver by Drive link instead of uploading to the listing. The moment you do that, you're over the 20MB Etsy would have let through and often over the 100MB Google will scan, and the warning becomes the first thing a paying customer sees.
| What the buyer sees | What's actually happening |
|---|---|
| "Can't scan this file for viruses" + Download anyway | File is over Google's 100MB scanning limit, or is a file type Drive doesn't scan. Not a virus finding. |
| "This file was identified as malware" and blocked outright | A real detection, not the warning above — rare, and a different message. If you see this on your own file, take it seriously; it isn't the same thing as the size-based warning. |
| "Too many users have viewed or downloaded this file recently" | A different, unrelated limit — high traffic on the link in a short window. Google's own help page says it's temporary and typically resets within 24 hours. What it means and what to do about it. |
What to do about it
- 1
Don't try to make the warning disappear
There is no setting that turns a 300MB file back into one small enough to scan. Shrinking the file below 100MB removes the warning as a side effect, not as the aim — do that only if a smaller file is genuinely fine for the product.
- 2
Say it before they see it
Put one line in the delivery PDF, next to the link: "Google will warn that it can't scan this file for viruses — that's because of its size, not a virus. Click Download anyway." That line, read first, is the difference between a buyer who clicks through and one who closes the tab and messages you asking if the product is safe.
- 3
If the file can shrink without hurting the product, do it anyway
A lower export setting, splitting one archive into a few smaller ones, or dropping a format nobody asked for — the same options covered on the file size limit page — reduce the chance of hitting this warning at all, independently of Etsy's own cap.
The underlying pattern is the same one Google Drive link not working for customers covers for permissions: the buyer is seeing something you, signed in as the file's owner, may never see yourself, because Google treats you differently. Test a large file's link from a private window, the same way, so you see the actual warning your buyer gets rather than guessing at it.
See a sample delivery
A real example delivery PDF, and what the weekly link check actually verifies.
See a sample delivery