Who can open it
Six settings, said in terms of what happens rather than what they are called. Changing this never changes the link — what changes is who it lets in.
- Public
- Anyone with the link. Search engines may index it, and it can appear on your profile.
- Unlisted
- Anyone with the link, but nothing points at it: search engines are asked not to index it and it stays off your profile. Not a secret — a link that has not been advertised. Anyone you send it to can send it on.
- Password
- A password is needed before the site loads. Share the link and the password separately, or you have shared one thing. We store it hashed, so we cannot show it back to you. Free includes one password-protected site at a time, once your email is confirmed; Pro and Team have as many as you like.
- Invited
- Only the addresses you invite. They verify by email once — no account, no password, no reason for them to sign up for anything.
- Team
- Everyone in your workspace, and nobody else.
- Private
- Only you, the people who can edit it, and its approvers. An invited viewer cannot open it, and neither can anyone holding the link. Free on every plan.
What a gate actually does
Password and Invited put a real check in front of the content, not a banner over it. Nothing is served until it passes — the files are not sitting behind a hidden div waiting for someone to open the inspector.
A gated site also cannot be embedded. A frame that skipped the gate would be a gate in name only, so we refuse rather than pretend.
Links that expire
On every plan, a site can stop opening on a date you choose, in Who can open this. After it, its address shows that the link has expired, and a visitor who still needs it can ask you for it again; you get an email with their address and note. Nothing is deleted. You and the people who edit it still open it in Solta, and moving the date, or setting it to never, opens the same link again.
Ask for an email first
On Pro and Team, a Public or Unlisted site can ask for an email before it opens: switch on Ask for an email first in Who can open this. Anybody with the link still opens it, once they give an address, and the same browser is not asked again for 30 days. You see every address, when it first and last opened the site, and how many times, and can download them as a CSV.
By default the address is not checked and nothing is sent to it, so it is a list of who said they opened it, not proof. Tick Verify the address with a code and each visitor is emailed a 6-digit code instead, and the site opens once they type it; the list and the CSV say which addresses were verified. Either way, to let in only people you chose, use Invited. You and the people who edit it are never asked.
A Private site on your own device
A Private site opens inside Solta, where we know who you are. To use one at its own address, say to install it as an app on your phone, choose Open on this device from its menu. That browser can then open it for 30 days.
Who can open it does not change: only somebody who may open it already can do this, and only for the browser they are using. The device is asked about on every page it loads, so it stops working within seconds if it is forgotten in the site's settings, if that person loses access, or if the site stops being Private. Coming back to Private does not let the old devices back in.