Publish a read-only web link
Create a read-only page anyone with the link can read without signing in, and unpublish it the moment you no longer need it.
Applies to Web · Mac · iPhone app · note owner only · not available for locked notes
Publish to web turns a single note into a web page anyone can read without signing in. Use it to show results to people who don’t have an account. The public page is read-only, with no editing, comments or task features, and nobody can find it without the link. Notes are private by default and only become public when you create a link yourself.
Before you start
- Only the note’s owner can create or remove the link. People it’s shared with, even with Can edit access, can’t.
- Locked notes can’t be published. Locking a published note removes its public link.
Create a link
- Open the note and click Share in the note header.
- Under Publish to web at the bottom of the popover, click Create link.
- Click Copy link to copy the address (it ends in
/p/…) and send it.
What the public page shows
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Content | The note’s title and body, including images and attachments in it (except in a note made with Duplicate or from a template: its images and attachments still belong to the original note and won’t open on the public page — upload them again to the copy before publishing). A banner at the top says it’s a read-only document shared from CommonNote and shows the date it was last updated. |
| Always current | The page shows the note’s current content each time it’s opened. If you edit the note after publishing, the public page changes too. |
| Search engines | The page is sent with a tag asking search engines not to index it. |
| Attachment downloads | Up to 4 at a time from a single IP address. |
The public page changes whenever you edit the note. To send the content as it is at one point in time, export the note as a PDF or HTML file instead.
Unpublish
- Click Share in the note header.
- Click Unpublish next to Publish to web.
The link stops working immediately. If you click Create link again, you get a new address; the old one stays dead. The public link also doesn’t open while the note is in the Trash.
If you want colleagues to edit with you, share the note or notebook instead. Shared notes are visible only to the people you invite.