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Adjust Timeline Visibility

Preceden offers several visibility options, depending on who you want to be able to see your timeline.

Changing a timeline's visibility

  1. Open the timeline
  2. To the right of the timeline's name, click the visibility status. It reads Private, Secret URL, Password Protected, or, on older timelines, Public.
  3. The Update Timeline dialog will open.
  4. Open the Visibility list and choose another option, all of which are explained below. Password Protected also asks you to enter a password.
  5. After making your selection, click Update Timeline to save your changes.

Visibility Options

Private

Only you can see the timeline while signed in to your account.

If you're using Preceden's collaboration feature, anyone you invite to be able to edit your timeline will also be able to see it.

Secret URL

Private, except that your timeline's web address gains a unique, hard-to-guess code. Here's a real timeline that uses one:

https://www.preceden.com/timelines/752569-example-timeline-with-secret-url?s=43dbc32502bb305d

That 43dbc32502bb305d is a randomly generated code Preceden associates with your timeline. Without that exact code, no one can open the timeline.

To cut off access for anyone you have already given the link to, switch the visibility to Private and then back to Secret URL. Preceden generates a new code, and the old link stops working.

Password Protected

Also private, except that you set a password to hand out along with your timeline's URL so others can view it.

Public

Anyone can view the timeline, including people who find it through a search engine.

Preceden stopped offering Public for new timelines on October 19, 2023, so the option only appears in the Visibility list for timelines created before that date or for timelines that are already public. To share a newer timeline, use Secret URL or Password Protected.

Default Visibility

New timelines are private, so only you can see them until you choose otherwise. You can switch one to Secret URL or Password Protected at any time using the steps above.

See Share a Link to Your Timeline for more details.