Sharing

By default, everything you write in Werdsmith is completely private.

Sometimes you might want to share your work with friends, readers or editors. Werdsmith makes that easy, by letting you create Live Links to any of your projects.

How does it work?

When editing a project, you can choose "Share" from the menu. This gives you a link that you can send around.

Anyone who has the link can read the project in their web browser.

Werdsmith links are live. If you ever update your project, anyone with the link can refresh the webpage and see the update. You won't need to send a new link.

You can also post links to your Writer's Portfolio.

Is it private?

The link is like a secret code. When you give it to someone, it lets them read the document.

Anyone who has the link can read the document. If you or someone with a link shares it on the web, it may get picked up by search engines like Google and show up in search results. If something you're writing is secret, make sure you only share it with people you trust.

A link to one document doesn’t grant access to any other documents.

If you don't share a link and you don't publish it to your Portfolio, nobody will be able to read your document except you.

Can I remove links?

Yes. At any time you can disable or re-enable a link. If someone tries to use the link while it's disabled, they won't be able to read the document.

Example

Say you're writing two projects: a short story and a novel.

Your story is super secret, but you want your friend Sarah to read the novel.

You tap share on the novel and email Sarah the link.

She clicks the link in the email and it takes her to a webpage where she can read your project.

You add a chapter to the novel and Sarah refreshes the webpage. She can now see the new chapter.

Sarah forwards the link to her friend Peter, who she knows has helped you with your writing before. Peter can now also read your project.

You decide that you want to make a big change to the novel, and you don't want anyone to see it until it's finished. You disable the link.

Sarah tries to access the link, but it's disabled, so she can't read the document anymore.

You’re now happy with your novel and you want the world to see it. You re-enable the link and post it to social media, and it gets picked up by Google.

People searching your name in Google can now find your published novel in the search results.

Still, nobody can see your secret short story except for you.

Notes

Please note that live links and the portfolio require a free Werdsmith account. Exporting does not require an account.