# Published links

This page is for the person who writes the notes. It tells you how to show one
note, or one folder of notes, to a person who has no account.

## What a published link is

A published link is a web address. The person who opens the address reads your
note in a web browser. That person needs no account and no application.

The person reads the note. The person cannot change the note. The person cannot
open your other notes.

You make the link, you keep the link, and you stop the link when you want.

## Publish one note

1. Open the note.
2. Open the note menu in the header, then select **Publish**.
3. Read what the link opens, then select **Publish**.
4. Select **Copy link**.

The screen shows the link one time. Copy the link before you close the dialog.
The dialog asks you once if you close it without a copy.

If you lose the link, revoke it on the **Published links** screen and publish
the note again.

Some browsers give a page no clipboard. The link then stays in the field, and
the field is ready for your keyboard. Copy the value with your keyboard.

## Publish one folder

1. Open the sidebar.
2. Select the menu of the folder.
3. Select **Publish folder**.

A folder link opens more than one note, so the dialog tells you what it opens
before you publish. The link lists the name of every note in the folder. It
opens every note that is in the folder now, and it opens every note that you
add to the folder later.

## Add a password

The publish dialog has a password field. Leave the field empty for a link that
opens without a password.

If you give a password, the person must type it before the note opens. Send the
password in a different message than the link.

The reader types the password to open the link. tidy notebook keeps that answer for
12 hours while the reader moves between the notes of a folder link. The page
asks for the password again after that time, and it asks again when the reader
opens the address in a new browser.

## Give the link an end

The publish dialog offers an end for the link: in 1 day, in 7 days, or in 30
days. The link stops at that time. Select **No expiry** for a link that stays
open until you revoke it.

## See your links and stop one

Select **Published links** in the sidebar. The screen lists every link that is
open now. Each row gives the name of the note or the folder, tells you if a
password guards the link, and tells you when the link stops.

Select **Revoke** on a row to stop that link. The link stops at once. The next
person who opens the address reads that the link is not available. A revoked
link does not come back. Publish again to make a new link.

The screen tells you **No published links** when your workspace holds none.

A row that says **Taken down by an administrator** is a link that an
administrator stopped after a report. It opens nothing, and you cannot make it
open again. The row stays for 30 days.

## What the reader sees

The reader sees the note as you wrote it: the headings, the lists, the tasks,
the tables, the code, and the images. A folder link starts with the list of the
notes, and the reader opens one note from that list.

A link from one note to another note opens only if your published link opens
that second note. A link to any other note keeps its words and opens nothing.

A diagram is drawn as it is in your note. A browser that runs no script
shows the text of the diagram instead.

The reader sees the last version that your server holds. An edit on your device
reaches the reader after you save it.

Each page has a **Report this page** link at its foot. A reader who finds a
harmful page gives a reason there. The administrators of the server read the
report and can take the link down.

A server can show published pages on an address of their own, for example
`pages.example.net`. The reader then opens that address, and an old address on
the main site moves the reader there.

## What a published link does not do

- It does not let anybody change your note.
- It does not open a note outside the link. A note in the Trash stays closed.
- It does not count the readers. tidy notebook does not tell you how many people
  opened a link, or when they opened it.
- It does not hide the address. Every person who has the address reads the
  note. Send the address only to people you trust. Revoke the link when the
  work is done.

## Keep the address safe

The address is the key to the note. Anybody who reads the address, in a chat,
in a mail, or on a screen, opens the note.

Give one link to one group of people. Revoke it when they no longer need it,
and publish a new link for the next group.