Share Passwords

Gate every share link to a space behind a single password.

A share password is an optional password on a space. When it is set, anyone opening any share link for that space must enter the password before they can see it. It is there to stop people guessing or stumbling onto a share URL, not to provide strong encryption.

How it works

The password belongs to the space, not to a single link. One password covers every share link you create for that space, embeds included. Once a visitor enters it correctly, it stays in effect for their whole visit, so their reads, edits, images, and realtime all stay authorised.

As the owner you always bypass the password. So do members of the team whose library holds the space, since they don't come in through a link. The prompt only ever appears for people coming in through a share link.

Setting a password

Open the Share dialog on your space.
Switch on Password Protection beneath the list of passes.

Type a password of at least 6 characters in the field that appears and choose Save (or press Enter). The field shows what you type, so you can check it, and Save stays off until the password is long enough.

Once saved, the row shows Password Set with Replace and Remove, and every pass gains a small Password tag. livehuddle keeps only a scrambled form of the password, so nobody can read it back afterwards, you included: note it down before you save, and use Replace to choose a new one if you lose it.

With a password saved, the switch shows Password Set with Replace and Remove, and every pass carries a Password tag.

Changing or removing it

  • Replace brings back an empty field. Type the new password and choose Save, or Cancel (or Esc) to keep the old one.
  • Remove, or switching Password Protection off, takes the password away at once. Every link then opens without one again.

Setting or replacing a password sends everyone currently in the space through a share link back to the prompt straight away, so they need the new password to carry on. Removing it disconnects nobody.

What visitors see

When someone opens a protected share link, they get a full-screen card headed This space is password-protected, with a single password box and an Open Space button, instead of the space. A wrong password shows "That password didn't match. Try again." and lets them try again. Guesses are rate-limited per network, so a password can't be found by trying thousands of them.

A visitor on a protected link sees the password card instead of the space.

The browser remembers a password that worked, for that link, so a visitor isn't asked again next time. They are asked again only if you replace the password (or remove it and later set a new one), or they clear their browser's site data.

Embedded spaces behave the same way: the password prompt appears inside the embed frame. Because browsers keep each site's storage separate, a visitor enters the password once per site where the space is embedded.

What a password turns off

  • Live images. An image tag can't supply a password, so the Live image menu disappears from every pass while a password is set. See Live Image.
  • The Community. A public space can't ask its visitors for a password, so a space can't be in the Community and have a password at the same time. While it is listed, Password Protection is switched off and locked, with a note saying why.

Pair a password with a share link expiry for a link that both needs a secret and stops working after a set time.

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