Public links
A public link lets anyone read one thing, and everything nested under it, without an account. Use it to show a recipe, a plan or a list to someone outside your workspace.
Make a public link
The thing's author can make a link when they are an editor or above, and the owner and admins can make one for any thing. Each thing has at most one link at a time.
On the web
- Open the thing and choose Share public link in its ⋮ menu. The Public link dialog opens and says the thing “isn't shared publicly yet”.
- Read the consent line and tick it. It says that anyone with the link can view the thing and every sub-thing under it, including sub-things added later, without signing in; that they can pass the link on; and that you can turn it off at any time with Stop sharing.
- Press Create public link. The link appears in a field with a copy button beside it.
The box starts unticked every time, so each new link asks again.
On the phone
In the thing's menu, choose Share public link. The first time, a Public link dialog shows the same consent line (ending with where Stop sharing lives on the web), with Cancel and Create link. Your phone's share sheet then opens with the link, ready to send. Once a thing has a link, the menu item goes straight to the share sheet.
The phone menu's plain Share item is a different thing: it sends the thing's name and text as a message and makes nothing public.
What a visitor sees
The link opens a page on everythings.app headed Read-only shared view, over the workspace's own wallpaper and accent color.
- The thing's emoji, its name and a reading-time hint.
- Its content as members see it: headings and a table of contents, lists and checklists (read-only), tables, images, embedded YouTube videos and maps.
- For a video, map or attachment thing, the player, map or file card first. A file card offers Open and Save.
- Its sub-things as tiles. A tile opens that sub-thing on its own page under the same link; the ✕, or a click outside the card, goes back up a level.
What stays private
Visitors never see marks, comments, tags, who wrote anything, or anything outside the shared thing: its parent, its siblings and the rest of the workspace stay hidden. Things in Trash stay hidden too.
The bar on a shared thing
While a thing has a public link, a thin bar at the foot of its page in the app reminds everyone in the workspace: item is public: followed by copy link and, for whoever may turn the link off, revoke access.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| copy link | Copies the link again (“Link copied”). |
| revoke access | Turns the link off at once (“Public link revoked”) and the bar disappears. |
The bar shows on the shared thing itself. Its sub-things, which the link also covers, show no bar of their own.
Stop sharing
The thing's author (an editor or above) and the owner and admins can turn a link off, whoever made it. Do it from the web in either of two places.
- revoke access in the bar at the foot of the thing.
- The thing's ⋮ menu › Share public link, then Stop sharing in the dialog (“Public link disabled”).
The old link stops working right away, for everyone who has it. Sharing again later makes a new link with a different address, so the old one stays dead.
Public link or invitation
Both let someone see your things. They suit different jobs.
| Public link | Invitation | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | One thing and everything under it | The whole workspace |
| Who can open it | Anyone holding the link | The one email address you invited |
| Account needed | No | Yes |
| Can they change things | No, read-only | By their role: viewers comment and mark, editors add things, admins change anything |
| Uses a member place | No | Yes, by the owner's plan |
| Who can create it | The thing's author (editor or above), an admin or the owner | An admin or the owner |
| How it ends | Stop sharing or revoke access | An admin or the owner removes them, or they leave |
Links in Slack
The Everythings app for Slack works with a thing's address in the app, the one in your browser while the thing is open. Paste that into a Slack conversation and Slack shows a card with the thing's name, place, marks and comments, once your Slack account is connected and only if you can open the thing yourself. Everyone in that conversation sees the card. See Slack.
Questions
Do visitors need an account?
No. Anyone who has the link can open it in a browser without signing in. Search engines are asked not to index shared pages, so the link spreads only as far as people pass it on.
Will the link show sub-things I add later?
Yes. The page reads the thing live on every visit, so a visitor sees the current content and every sub-thing nested under it, including ones added after you made the link. Move a sub-thing out of the shared thing and it drops out of the link.
Can visitors comment or mark?
No. A public link is read-only. Visitors can open sub-things and follow links, and nothing else. To let someone take part, invite them to the workspace; see Sharing a workspace.
What happens to the link if I delete the thing?
While the thing is in Trash, its link shows a not-found page. Restore the thing and the same link works again. To end the link for good, press Stop sharing first.
Can I stop sharing from my phone?
The phone app creates and shares links. Turning one off happens on the web: open the thing and use revoke access in its bar, or Stop sharing in the thing's ⋮ menu › Share public link.
Can I make a public link from the sandbox?
No. Guests can't share anything. Sign up from the bar at the top first; your sandbox stays. See Getting started.