About Sharing and Publication

A mesh has two ways to leave your private list. You can invite collaborators. You can publish a frozen version. These are different jobs. Sharing gives people a role in the live mesh. Publication gives readers a copy that cannot change.

Sharing the live mesh

The owner and an admin manage sharing. They invite another NUU account by email and choose a role. The invitation is pending until that person accepts it. Home holds the invitation inbox. Accept adds the mesh to their list. Decline removes the invitation.

Roles are the access model.

• Owner created the mesh and remains the owner.
• Admin can edit documents and can manage sharing.
• Editor can change documents and cannot manage sharing.
• Read-only can read and cannot change documents.

You cannot change your own role. Another manager must do that. You can leave a mesh you joined. Leave does not delete the mesh.

An invite that still waits is visible to the manager. So is a declined invite. An accepted grant is the normal state and stays quiet.

Sharing changes need a connection. Offline, the sharing surface waits.

If your access is removed while the mesh is open, the workspace leaves the mesh. You return to home.

Publication

Publish clones the mesh into a frozen version. Nobody can edit that copy, including you. Each publish is a new version. You supply a version label. You can add tags and a short description. Readers use tags and description when they browse.

The live mesh does not freeze. You can keep writing after you publish. A later publish creates another frozen copy.

A published version has two useful addresses.

• A stable address follows the latest ready version of the source mesh. This is the address you copy when you want a link that stays current.
• A pinned address names one frozen copy forever.

Readers can switch between ready versions. A withdrawn version still appears in the list. It does not open.

Anyone can read a ready published version. They do not need an account. A guest can also browse the public registry from home.

You can update the label, tags, and description of a version after it is ready. You can withdraw a version. Withdraw leaves a record that the version existed. It does not restore edit access to that copy.

Publish needs a connection. A large mesh can take time to copy. If you edit the live mesh while a copy runs, the copy can start over. If a publish fails, nothing becomes readable under that version. You can try again, or you can remove the failed row.

Why both exist

Collaborators need a live mesh. They write, they link, and they see each other. Readers need a stable page. They should not see half-written work. Publication is that cut. Sharing is the team. Publication is the snapshot.

Version history on the live document is not the same as a published mesh version. History is per document. Publication is the whole mesh at one moment. See Core Ideas.

To invite people, follow Share a Mesh with Collaborators. To freeze a copy for readers, follow Publish a Mesh for Readers.