How to Share Amazon S3 Files/Objects with External Users Using Presigned URLs | Python SDK Example

By default, files/objects in Amazon/AWS's Simple Storage Service (S3) are blocked from all public access, which means that users without AWS permissions will get an “AccessDenied” error when trying to access them. But sometimes, you DO need to share files with external users, and presigned URLs are the way to do that.

In this hands-on tutorial, I’ll walk through how to create an S3 bucket (with all public access blocked) and then upload a file to it. We’ll then see how to generate a presigned URL for the file using the Console (in the browser). And then we’ll see how to programmatically create the presigned URL using the Python SDK (in a Cloud9 IDE environment).

Links to videos and documentation referenced:

00:00 – Overviewing the need to share S3 files/objects with external users
00:32 – Creating an S3 bucket with no public access
01:31 – Access denied on S3 files
02:10 – Introducing presigned URLs for sharing S3 files
03:20 – Programmatically creating presigned URLs for S3 files using the SDK
04:31 – Implementing Python code to create presigned URLs for S3 files
07:05 – Options for using credentials with the boto3 S3 client
07:38 – Deleting the S3 bucket and Cloud9 environment

[BrianScoggin]

Excellent video. It solved my exact problem and then showed me how to not have the problem in the first place. Also, I really appreciate you having everything ready instead of watching you fumble around the keyboard and then forget things etc etc like so many other channels. A+ on organization.

[lumiere]

Within seconds of entering this video, I was surprised by how soft and pleasant you voice sounds! Then the content itself is made very easy to understand. It almost feel like I'm in school again and just met a teacher who made me go "hey now that she is teaching this class instead, i can understand it now, and she's so nice too"

[kwabford]

Best AWS tutorials around! Thank you so much for showing actual use cases in a delightful manner. You’ve probably saved weeks of my life😅

[tartanrambo]

Happy 2022! You are my AWS genie! Thank you for granting my wish (request for assistance). This is a really practical and useful tutorial and your delivery is, as always, faultless! I look forward to more of your tutorials this year and sincerely appreciate your generous contribution to your subscribers. I wish you every success in growing your channel and encourage everyone reading comment this to get behind you. Thank you...

[jasusig]

Thanks for showing both ways though UI and programmatically.

[oa]

Fantastic Video... Very straightforward & helpful.. Many thanks..

[GreatDataVideos]

Excellent. Didn't know you could do this.

[prabhupalanisamy]

awesome tutorial, thanks for sharing !

[shellenecross]

Hello. In simplified terms, this is what I understand about Amazon S3 Files in general... a company or organization would use this to create a speciifc URL to upload a document they want to have available on the web (to be seen or downloaded?). If that URL is created as "open to the public, " then anyone searching the internet could find it? Is that correct? Why would a company do this if they have they're own website that could house and provide the document?

[dfelton]

First, thank you for this straight forward explanation. The reality is though, the need to share one file at a time is rare. Is there a way to create a presign url for a folder with sub-folders that contain objects?

[LocalGhost_]

How can I implement a restriction to allow logged users to download files only? I guess it's not with Pre-signed URLs...

[GAURAVKUMAR-qfxt]

wow…. thanks … can we provide external user ( non IAM user ) access to whole bucket without making it public?

[TORMENTUMM]

Thanks for your content. Isn't the first 5 gb of an s3 bucket part of aws free tier?

[nitinjaiswal]

I am trying to access some lambda microservices using presigned url. What would be the params in that case? Sorry but I am new to this

[lifelessalarm]

Really great content, thanks for this. Do you know of an optimal approach for generating presigned urls for multiple files at the same time? Let's say we have a web application where we want to request all the images in a bucket belonging to a particular user (which image belongs to who is stored in a database). I guess your backend could loop over all the requested files and generate an individual presigned url for each file, and then send the list back to the frontend for display. Any other thoughts on this approach?

Thanks again!

[jayant]

Hi Thanks for sharing the video
One question if the object is located under nested directory then, how this code will work?
After generating the URL, its saying the key does not exist.

[siddheshveer]

Hello, Thank you for sharing. But I am a bit confused as I am able to share an uploaded PDF file using AWS S3 by simply selecting the uploaded file in my S3 bucket > clicking the OPEN button > opens in a new tab/ window and showing the uploaded PDF file. Then I simply copy the URL and share it with my friends via text/ Whats app/ iMessage/ FB messenger and everyone were able to access the file + Download it. Please let me know if this method (non-coding way) has a time limit of up to 12 hours or any other restrictions.

[davewettlaufer]

I’m trying to use the s3 to store all the ebooks and digital content that I have for sale and in the end share the “object” address after payment. You have shared good content and I thank you but … I’m still in the dark.