Document Visibility & Access Level
Control how your documents appear in navigation and who can access them.
Visibility
Visibility controls whether a document shows up in the navigation tree. On the Access tab of the Share popup, it’s the Show in navigation toggle, which appears once a document is public.
Leave it on (the default) and the document appears in the sidebar as normal. Turn it off to hide the document from navigation while keeping it reachable via direct URL — useful for landing pages, archived content, or internal reference documents that shouldn’t clutter the sidebar.
Hiding is about the sidebar and nothing else. A hidden document still turns up in search for anyone who can already read it, and a direct link to it still works — that is the case the setting exists for. If you need to restrict who can read it, that is the access level below.
Access level
Access level controls who can view your document’s content. The dropdown describes the audience you’re choosing.
Inherit from project follows the project’s access setting. This is recommended for most documents — when the project changes, the document follows automatically.
Workspace members restricts the document to your team only, even if the project is public. Use this for sensitive content inside a shared project.
Anyone with the link lets anyone who has the direct link view the document. It won’t appear in public listings.
Public — everyone on the internet makes the document open to everyone. It appears in public project navigation and can be indexed by search engines.
Access matrix
Each row shows how the three settings combine to determine who can view your document.
A draft is narrower than it looks: it is not “everyone on the team”, it is everyone who could edit it. A Member with no project grant does not see your unfinished page.
| Workflow | Access Level | Project | Who Can View |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Any | Any | Workspace members with edit access |
| Published | Workspace members | Any | Workspace members only |
| Published | Inherit from project | Private | Workspace members only |
| Published | Inherit from project | Unlisted | Anyone with the link |
| Published | Inherit from project | Public | Everyone |
| Published | Anyone with the link | Private | Workspace members only* |
| Published | Anyone with the link | Unlisted/Public | Anyone with the link |
| Published | Public | Any | Everyone |
* Unless password protection is enabled — see below.
The last row is the one that surprises people: an access level set explicitly on a document wins outright, and the project’s setting is consulted only to resolve Inherit. So a document marked Public inside a private project really is public. If you want the project to be the gate, leave its documents on Inherit.
The same settings outside the UI
The dropdown shows audiences; the API, MCP tools and .meldoc.md front matter use the underlying values. They are the same setting under two names.
| Dropdown label | Value |
|---|---|
| Inherit from project | inherit |
| Workspace members | private |
| Anyone with the link | unlisted |
| Public — everyone on the internet | public |
Change visibility and access
The Share popup has two tabs. The Share tab is where you grab a link to send — the Team link for your workspace, plus a Public link once the document is publicly readable. The Access tab is where you decide who can view it.
The popup opens on the Share tab. To change access, switch to the Access tab:
- Select the Share icon in the document top bar.
- Open the Access tab.
- Set Status to Draft or Published.
- When published, select an Access Level from the dropdown.
- If the access level makes the document public, toggle Show in navigation on or off.
Changes save automatically. The status badge at the top of the popup always shows the current state, and selecting it jumps to the Access tab. To copy a link to send, see Document Short Links.
Password protection
Password protection adds a layer of security to shared documents. It also unlocks a key capability: sharing a document by direct link from a private project.
To set up password protection:
- Open a published document set to Anyone with the link or Public — everyone on the internet.
- Select the Share icon in the document top bar.
- Open the Access tab.
- Toggle Password protection on.
- Enter a password (4–128 characters).
- Click Save.
When enabled, visitors must enter the password before viewing. Workspace members with direct access bypass it. You can update or remove the password at any time.
Keep in mind: To share a document from a private project, set its access level to Anyone with the link, enable password protection, then share the URL and password with your recipients.
Public document URLs
Published documents set to Anyone with the link or Public — everyone on the internet are available at:
https://public.meldoc.io/workspace-slug/project-alias/document-alias
What’s next?
Document Workflow — Manage draft and published states.
Document Editor — Write and format content in the Markdown editor.