Guide
Up until the end of October 2025, sharing via a public link worked differently. Instead of access templates, we used the sharer's access to determine what related entities to share.
The old mechanism was confusing and rigid, so we are sunsetting it. This guide explains the changes and how to migrate the old public links before the end of April 2026:
All old public links will continue to work ~forever. However, after the transition to the new access template mechanism, each legacy public link might include less than it used to (e.g., mentioned and related entities won't now be shared by default). See the detailed differences below.
Why the change
Before access templates, we used sharer's access to determine what is being shared in the public link they generate. There were two major flaws with this approach:
No one (apart from the sharer) could tell if an entity is being shared to web, so people risked exposing sensitive information without even realising it.
The sharer could not control what is being shared: all entities mentioned or linked to the parent entity as well as all assigned users were shared.
Now, we have a transparent and customizable mechanism thanks to access templates. Check out how it works exactly here: Share Entity to Web via Public Link.
It's the same approach that we've used to Share Entity inside the workspace for a while, now also applied to public links.
What happens with old public links
Before the end of April 2026, you can migrate these links in a controllable fashion by selecting the custom access template appropriate for each use case.
On May 1, 2026, we will mass migrate all remaining old public links to the new mechanism using the safest (and the least powerful) Viewer access template.
Migrate one by one
If an entity is being shared using the old sharer-dependent mechanism, you'll see a deprecation hint and an option to migrate the public link:
Click Migrate → Viewer template will be applied by default. You can extend access or select a custom access template instead.
You'll need the permission to share an entity publicly to see the old public links — included in Owner and higher access.
Batch migrate
Batch migrate all old public links in Settings → Public Sharing:
Select an access template to migrate to.
Click Migrate
What changes with new public links
Here is the comparison between the old sharer-dependent and the new access template mechanisms:
| Old | New |
Basics |
Number of public links per entity | Each user can generate their own public link, not discoverable to others. | Just one public link per entity. |
What is being shared |
Related entities | All related entities the sharer has access to, with no way to customize what's being shared | According to the selected access template. Viewer by default (no related entities included).
|
Users | All assignees, including their emails, roles, and any other info in the User entity 😱 | ➖ |
Mentioned entities | Everything the sharer has access to | ➖ |
Documents & Whiteboards | ➖ | ➖ |
Files | ✅ | ✅ |
Comments | ✅ | ✅ |
References | ✅ | ✅ |
Permissions |
Who can see an entity is publicly shared | The sharer in the sharing popup 🆕 Admins in Public Sharing settings | Everyone who can access the entity. |
Who can see the public link | The sharer in the sharing popup 🆕 Admins in Public Sharing settings | Everyone who can access all the shared hierarchy. |
What access is required to share a related entity | Any access is enough 👁️ | Permission to share to web is required 🌐 |