Share
Sharing and permissions
A diagram is only useful if the right people can open it, and only safe if the wrong people cannot. Datadef projects are private by default: you invite people with a role, editors work with you on the same canvas, and viewers see without touching. A public link exists for everyone else, and it is strictly view only. This page states the exact rules.
How it works
- 1Open the Share dialog on the canvas and invite people by email or @username, choosing viewer, editor, or admin as you invite.
- 2Invited editors join you on the same canvas and changes are saved to the same document, so nobody merges diagram files.
- 3When the whole world may see it, switch the project to Anyone with the link: visitors get a view-only page, no sign-in required.
- 4Switch it back to invite only at any time; the public link stops resolving immediately.
Roles
| Role | Can do |
|---|---|
| Owner | Everything: edit, manage members, toggle public access, delete the project. |
| Admin | Edit, plus manage members and invitations. |
| Editor | Edit the diagram. |
| Viewer | View the diagram and its versions. No changes. |
Invite people from the Share dialog on the canvas, by email address or @username, choosing their role as you invite.
Editing needs a plan on both sides
A person without a paid plan or active trial can only be a viewer. Inviting them as editor or admin adds them as viewer instead; the server enforces this, whatever the dialog was told.
The public link
The owner can switch a project from Invite only to Anyone with the link. The rule to remember:
Anyone with the link is view only
A public link never grants editing. Visitors can open, pan, and zoom, without signing in. Editing requires being invited as editor or admin, and signing in. There is no link that makes strangers editors.
- Turning on public access is owner-only and requires a paid plan.
- The Share dialog offers two URLs: the preview link, which anyone can open while the project is public, and the editor link, which opens the real canvas and only works for signed-in invited members.
- Public access is also what embeds are built on: turning it off breaks every embed of the project.
- Signed-in visitors who can view but not edit get a request-access button; the owner decides.
When a collaborator's plan ends
Datadef checks the writer's plan on every write. A collaborator whose trial or subscription has ended becomes a viewer in practice: everything shared with them stays open and viewable, and every edit is refused until they have an active plan again. Their role assignment is not deleted; it resumes working when their plan does.
The same applies to owners, with one narrow exception: a lapsed owner may still make a public project private. Reducing exposure is always allowed; widening it is not.