Navigator: share() method

The share() method of the Navigator interface invokes the native sharing mechanism of the device to share data such as text, URLs, or files. The available share targets depend on the device, but might include the clipboard, contacts and email applications, websites, Bluetooth, etc.

The method resolves a Promise with undefined. On Windows this happens when the share popup is launched, while on Android the promise resolves once the data has successfully been passed to the share target.

The Web Share API is gated by the web-share permission policy. The share() method will throw exceptions if the permission is supported but has not been granted.

Syntax

share(data)

Parameters

data Optional

An object containing data to share.

Properties that are unknown to the user agent are ignored; share data is only assessed on properties understood by the user agent. All properties are optional but at least one known data property must be specified.

Possible values are:

url Optional

A string representing a URL to be shared.

text Optional

A string representing text to be shared.

title Optional

A string representing a title to be shared. May be ignored by the target.

files Optional

An array of File objects representing files to be shared. See below for shareable file types.

Return value

A Promise that resolves with undefined, or rejected with one of the Exceptions given below.

Exceptions

The Promise may be rejected with one of the following DOMException values:

InvalidStateError DOMException

The document is not fully active, or other sharing operations are in progress.

NotAllowedError DOMException

A web-share Permissions Policy has been used to block the use of this feature, the window does not have transient activation, or a file share is being blocked due to security considerations.

TypeError

The specified share data cannot be validated. Possible reasons include:

• The data parameter was omitted completely or only contains properties with unknown values. Note that any properties that are not recognized by the user agent are ignored.
• A URL is badly formatted.
• Files are specified but the implementation does not support file sharing.
• Sharing the specified data would be considered a "hostile share" by the user-agent.

AbortError DOMException

The user canceled the share operation or there are no share targets available.

DataError DOMException

There was a problem starting the share target or transmitting the data.

Shareable file types

The following is a list of usually shareable file types. However, you should always test with navigator.canShare() if sharing would succeed.

• Application
  • .pdf - application/pdf
• Audio
  • .flac - audio/flac
  • .m4a - audio/x-m4a
  • .mp3 - audio/mpeg (also accepts audio/mp3)
  • .oga - audio/ogg
  • .ogg - audio/ogg
  • .opus - audio/ogg
  • .wav - audio/wav
  • .weba - audio/webm
• Image
  • .avif - image/avif
  • .bmp - image/bmp
  • .gif - image/gif
  • .ico - image/x-icon
  • .jfif - image/jpeg
  • .jpeg - image/jpeg
  • .jpg - image/jpeg
  • .pjp - image/jpeg
  • .pjpeg - image/jpeg
  • .png - image/png
  • .svg - image/svg+xml
  • .svgz - image/svg+xml
  • .tif - image/tiff
  • .tiff - image/tiff
  • .webp - image/webp
  • .xbm - image/x-xbitmap
• Text
  • .css - text/css
  • .csv - text/csv
  • .ehtml - text/html
  • .htm - text/html
  • .html - text/html
  • .shtm - text/html
  • .shtml - text/html
  • .text - text/plain
  • .txt - text/plain
• Video
  • .m4v - video/mp4
  • .mp4 - video/mp4
  • .mpeg - video/mpeg
  • .mpg - video/mpeg
  • .ogm - video/ogg
  • .ogv - video/ogg
  • .webm - video/webm

Security

This method requires that the current document have the web-share Permissions Policy and transient activation. (It must be triggered off a UI event like a button click and cannot be launched at arbitrary points by a script.) Further, the method must specify valid data that is supported for sharing by the native implementation.

Examples

Sharing a URL

The example below shows a button click invoking the Web Share API to share MDN's URL. This is taken from our Web share test (see the source code).

HTML

The HTML just creates a button to trigger the share, and a paragraph in which to display the result of the test.

<p><button>Share MDN!</button></p>
<p class="result"></p>

JavaScript

const shareData = {
  title: "MDN",
  text: "Learn web development on MDN!",
  url: "https://developer.mozilla.org",
};

const btn = document.querySelector("button");
const resultPara = document.querySelector(".result");

// Share must be triggered by "user activation"
btn.addEventListener("click", async () => {
  try {
    await navigator.share(shareData);
    resultPara.textContent = "MDN shared successfully";
  } catch (err) {
    resultPara.textContent = `Error: ${err}`;
  }
});

Result

Click the button to launch the share dialog on your platform. Text will appear below the button to indicate whether the share was successful or provide an error code.

Sharing files

To share files, first test for and call navigator.canShare(). Then include the list of files in the call to navigator.share().

HTML

<div>
  <label for="files">Select images to share:</label>
  <input id="files" type="file" accept="image/*" multiple />
</div>
<button id="share" type="button">Share your images!</button>
<output id="output"></output>

JavaScript

Note that the data object passed to the navigator.canShare() only includes the files property, as the title and text shouldn't matter.

const input = document.getElementById("files");
const output = document.getElementById("output");

document.getElementById("share").addEventListener("click", async () => {
  const files = input.files;

  if (files.length === 0) {
    output.textContent = "No files selected.";
    return;
  }

  // feature detecting navigator.canShare() also implies
  // the same for the navigator.share()
  if (!navigator.canShare) {
    output.textContent = `Your browser doesn't support the Web Share API.`;
    return;
  }

  if (navigator.canShare({ files })) {
    try {
      await navigator.share({
        files,
        title: "Images",
        text: "Beautiful images",
      });
      output.textContent = "Shared!";
    } catch (error) {
      output.textContent = `Error: ${error.message}`;
    }
  } else {
    output.textContent = `Your system doesn't support sharing these files.`;
  }
});

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• navigator.canShare()
• https://wpt.live/web-share/ (web platform tests)