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Privacy levels
When you publish a share link, you choose how visible it is. There are three privacy levels to pick from.
What are the privacy levels?
- Public — anyone with the link can view.
- Private (link-only) — anyone with the link can view; use this when you only want people you send the URL to to see it.
- Password-protected — viewers need the link and a password you set. Pro
About search engines
Regardless of the level you pick, all share pages are disallowed to search-engine crawlers in our robots.txt (every path under /b/ is blocked), so compliant search engines are asked not to index any share page. The privacy level controls the access expectation you set, not whether a well-behaved crawler indexes the page. Note that robots.txt is a request, not an access control — treat a "public" or "private (link-only)" link as "anyone who has the URL can open it." For anything you need gated, use password-protected.
How do I change the privacy level?
- Open the editor and click Share Link in the header.
- In the dialog, pick a level: Public, Private, or Password.
- If you chose Password, enter the password.
- Click Publish or Publish Changes.
You can change a published link's privacy level any time — re-publish and the new setting takes effect.
When should I use Public?
- You're publishing a resource you're happy for anyone with the link to open.
- You're showcasing your work in a portfolio and will share the link yourself.
- You don't need password protection and want the simplest way to hand someone a link.
(Share pages aren't indexed by search engines today — see the note above — so "Public" is about how freely you hand out the link, not about being found on Google.)
When should I use Private (link-only)?
- You're sending it to a specific person or small group.
- You want full control over who you give the URL to.
- You want the "link-only" framing so it's clear the page isn't meant to be findable — just shareable.
When should I use Password-protected?
- You're sharing with a client and want extra reassurance the work isn't leaked.
- You're sharing internal-only research with a team.
- You want a one-time password you can revoke later by re-publishing.
Password rotation
Password-protected pages compare your viewer's input against the password you set at publish time. To rotate a password, set a new one in the Share dialog and click Publish Changes. Old passwords stop working immediately.
Are there any caveats?
- Embedded videos on the share page rely on the source (YouTube) being accessible to the viewer. If the original was unlisted/private, viewers will see the storyboard but the embedded player may not load.
- Storyboard images and notes are served from StoryFolder's CDN; viewers always see them as long as the link works.
- Password-protected pages are public on the URL but the content is gated behind the password check.
How do I stop sharing?
In the Share dialog, click Unpublish. The URL stops working. Re-publishing creates a new link.