Send an HTML file so it opens in the browser

How different ways of sending an HTML file behave for the recipient

Why emailed HTML files and cloud links do not open as web pages

When you attach an .html file to an email or chat message, the recipient's device treats it as a document download rather than a website. On an iPhone or Android phone, tapping the attachment often displays raw HTML source code, opens a plain viewer with scripts disabled, or refuses to open the HTML file at all. If your page links to separate CSS stylesheets, images or JavaScript files on your computer, those files stay behind and the layout breaks.

Standard cloud storage links do not host web pages either. Google Drive shut down its website hosting (googledrive.com/host) on August 31, 2016 after deprecating it on August 31, 2015, so a shared HTML file no longer opens as a working page. Dropbox stopped rendering HTML in shared links for free accounts on October 3, 2016, and shut down Public folder links for Basic users on March 15, 2017 and for all users on September 1, 2017.

Turning the HTML into a link on a static host fixes both problems. The browser opens an HTTPS address directly, runs your JavaScript, and loads every image and stylesheet you uploaded alongside index.html.

How to include CSS, images and multiple pages

If your page is one self-contained .html file under 10 MB, upload that single file and ship.page serves it as your homepage. When your page uses local images, fonts, audio, video, JSON or separate CSS and JavaScript files, keep them in the same folder structure with your main file named index.html at the top.

You can drag the whole folder into the browser (up to roughly 7 MB of files encoded inside a 10 MB request) or compress it into a .zip file up to 25 MB (100 MB unpacked, up to 100 files on the free plan). If your ZIP has a single top folder, ship.page unwraps it automatically so index.html still opens at the root link.

• File paths are case-sensitive, so match exact uppercase and lowercase letters in your image and script tags.
• A second page saved as about.html opens at /about.html, while about/index.html opens at /about/.
• Single-page apps with client-side routing should use hash routes like #/about because there is no SPA fallback.
• A lone PDF, image or video file is not accepted by itself; place it inside a folder or ZIP with an index.html file.
• Only static files run; PHP, Node.js, Python, databases and WordPress are not supported, and forms need a third-party service.

Tip: Upload uncompressed files in your folder or ZIP, because ship.page serves files as they are without adding Content-Encoding headers for pre-compressed .br or .gz builds.

Other tools and when to upgrade

You can share an HTML file on ship.page without an account, and later claim the upload with a free account (sign in with Google or an email link, no credit card) to manage it from a dashboard. Every uploaded page includes a noindex header so search engines leave it out, and links are not listed anywhere public. If someone is standing next to you, they can scan the website QR code shown right after upload.

Another drag-and-drop option is Netlify Drop (app.netlify.com/drop), which accepts a folder, ZIP or single HTML file with no account needed to start. However, a site dropped on Netlify without signing in stays behind a temporary password until you claim it with a Netlify account, and unclaimed drops expire on their own. Netlify's docs also note that deploys under 50 MB work best and single files over 10 MB may get stuck. Pick Netlify if you already manage your sites in a Netlify account and want to claim the deploy there.

On ship.page, a free page cannot be updated in place; uploading a new version creates a new link. If you need to update a file while keeping the exact same URL, Pro is $4 a month (monthly billing, cancel anytime). Pro pages do not expire while you are on Pro (or you can pick any expiry from 60 seconds), remove the closeable "Hosted on ship.page" badge, add password protection, raise limits to 100 MB ZIPs (400 MB unpacked) and 10,000 files, and include up to 5 movable custom subdomains like yourname.ship.place. If you require your own custom root domain, use a traditional host because no ship.page plan offers custom domains.