Course files are half the course
A video lesson rarely stands alone. The workbook that goes with it, the audio version for the commute, the slide deck, the template a student fills in, the reference PDF they will open six months later: these are the parts of a course that get used after the video has been watched once.
Course platforms tend to treat files as an afterthought, and on Shopify the constraint has been sharper than most. Alva Courses is a Shopify app for building, selling and delivering online courses, and until now its file blocks stored everything in Shopify Files. That path stays. Alva File Storage adds a second one.
The two problems with Shopify Files
Shopify Files is convenient and free, and it has two properties that make it a poor home for paid course material. The first is size: a generic file is capped at 20 MB. The second is access: every file is served from a public CDN URL that works for anyone who has it, for as long as the file exists.
20 MB is smaller than it sounds
A 60-page illustrated workbook exported at print quality is 40 MB. A single 45-minute audio lesson at a reasonable bitrate is 45 MB. A slide deck with screenshots is 30 MB. Course creators have worked around the cap by splitting files, downsampling audio or linking out to a cloud drive, all of which move the friction onto the student.
A public URL is a public URL
Shopify Files has no concept of who is asking. A student who copies the link to a paid workbook can post it anywhere and it keeps working, and nothing on the storefront can tell the difference between an enrolled student and a visitor who found the link. For a free download that is the point. For a course someone paid for, it is a leak.
What Alva File Storage changes
Alva File Storage gives Unlimited Pro stores 10 GB of dedicated storage for course files, separate from the 50 GB video allowance, with a limit of 500 MB per file. Files are delivered through short-lived signed links minted for the student viewing the lesson, so the saved lesson never contains a permanent address for the file.
Six blocks, two tabs
The PDF, Audio, Image, EPUB, MS Office and File blocks each gain an Alva File Storage tab beside Shopify Files. Upload a new file or pick one from the shared library. The library filters to what the block accepts, so a PDF block lists PDFs and an Audio block lists audio.
Inline for reading, on click for downloads
Inline blocks such as a PDF viewer, an audio player, an image or the EPUB reader receive a link that lasts a full reading session and is renewed quietly in the background, so a student halfway through a 200-page workbook is never cut off. Download buttons receive a link created at the moment of the click that lasts about a minute, long enough to start the download and too short to be worth sharing.
A file library with a meter
A new Files page in the app lists every stored file with its type, size and status, shows how much of the 10 GB is used and how much is reserved by uploads still in progress, and lets you delete files that are no longer needed. Deleting a file that a lesson still uses warns you first.
The new File block
Alva Courses has always had blocks for PDFs, audio, images, EPUBs and Office documents. What it lacked was a block for everything else: a spreadsheet template, a ZIP of assets, a Keynote file, a font, a dataset. The new File block fills that gap on every plan. It offers any file type as a download button with a title you choose.
On the Unlimited plan the File block stores files in Shopify Files, up to 20 MB. On Unlimited Pro it also offers Alva File Storage, up to 500 MB. Files from this block are always delivered as a download and never rendered in the browser, which is what makes any type safe to offer.
How it works in the editor
Open a lesson, add a PDF, Audio, Image, EPUB, MS Office or File block, and choose the Alva File Storage tab. Either upload a file of up to 500 MB or choose one from the library. The block shows a preview where the format allows it, exactly as a Shopify-hosted file would. Save the lesson and the storefront takes care of the rest.
Alva Courses → Files in the left menu for the library and storage meter. Inside any lesson, the Alva File Storage tab appears on every file block once your store is on the Unlimited Pro plan. If you have just upgraded, reload the app once so the allowance appears.
What students see
Students see no difference in the lesson: the PDF viewer, the audio player, the image, the EPUB reader and the branded download button look and behave as they always have. What changes is underneath. A link copied out of the page stops working when it expires, so the workbook a student paid for stays with the students who paid for it.
Limits worth knowing
A few deliberate boundaries keep the feature predictable. Office documents stored with Alva are always delivered as a download, because the inline Office viewer relies on Microsoft fetching the file from a public URL. Files above 500 MB are refused at upload. Existing lessons are never migrated; Shopify Files remains the default and keeps working on every plan. Course PDF exports list stored files by title without a link, since a link inside a document would outlive its signed lifetime.
Who this is for
Alva File Storage is for course creators whose material is bigger than a video: music teachers shipping backing tracks and sheet music, cooking instructors with illustrated recipe books, business trainers distributing templates and slide decks, language tutors pairing audio with transcripts. If your students download as much as they watch, the 20 MB cap has been shaping your course. It no longer has to.
Frequently asked questions
Shopify Files accepts generic files such as PDFs, audio and documents up to 20 MB each, and images up to 20 MB. Alva File Storage, included with the Alva Courses Unlimited Pro plan, raises the limit to 500 MB per file with a 10 GB allowance per store, separate from the 50 GB video allowance.
No. A file uploaded to Shopify Files is served from a public CDN URL, and anyone who has that URL can open it, indefinitely. That is fine for a free lead magnet and a problem for a paid workbook. Alva File Storage issues a short-lived signed link only when a student who can open the lesson views it.
Six: PDF, Audio, Image, EPUB, MS Office and the new generic File block. Each shows a Shopify Files tab and an Alva File Storage tab on the Unlimited Pro plan. PDFs, audio, images and EPUBs display inline; Office documents and File-block downloads are delivered as a button that fetches the file on click.
No. Files already stored in Shopify Files keep their URLs and keep working exactly as before, on every plan. Alva File Storage is offered as a second tab in each file block rather than switched on for existing content, so nothing is migrated or re-rendered.
The File block offers any file type as a download button with a title you choose, for example a template, a spreadsheet or a ZIP of resources. It is available on every Alva Courses plan using Shopify Files up to 20 MB, and on Unlimited Pro it can also draw from Alva File Storage up to 500 MB per file.