Privacy controls who may enter a space, subspace, or activity and see the work scoped there. It is an access boundary for the area, not a shortcut for assigning staff authority.
Choose The Boundary Before Publishing
A Space, Subspace, or Activity can be created as private. The draft editor shows the privacy choice and a lock indicator so the boundary is visible before publication.
Choose carefully. A published area cannot currently switch between public and private. Existing media, navigation, membership, linked content, and broad discovery all have to follow the same boundary, so Visual Space treats privacy as a creation decision rather than an ordinary setting.
The setup path depends on the level:
New private areas keep their normal place in the Space hierarchy. Privacy changes who can see and enter them; it does not create a second private-only navigation system.
A Private Parent Protects Its Children
Privacy follows the hierarchy. A private Space protects all of its Subspaces and Activities. A private Subspace protects its Activities. An Activity can also be private inside an otherwise public Subspace.
This inheritance prevents a public-looking child route from bypassing its protected parent. Someone who lacks access should not see the private area in the Activities panel, About pages, broad content lists, Search, member views, or other discovery surfaces. Opening a protected direct link also requires access.
Private media follows the same rule. Signing in is not enough by itself; the reader must be allowed into the owning private area before protected images or video can be delivered.
Entry And Authority Are Different
Private membership answers one question: may this person enter the area? Roles and permissions answer another: what may this person do after entering?
A private member does not automatically become an admin, moderator, coordinator, publisher, or activity manager. Likewise, a person can hold a role at a wider level and still need private membership before seeing work in a protected child area.
This separation lets a Space invite people into sensitive work without handing them structural or moderation controls. When someone also needs responsibility, assign a suitable role after confirming that their private-area access is correct. See Roles and Permissions for the authority model.
Root Membership And Private Area Membership
Joining a public Space adds it to the person's joined-spaces rail and establishes ordinary membership. A private root Space uses invitations so acceptance can provide both the protected access and the joined-space navigation the member needs.
Nested private areas work differently. Their members are already known to the Space, so the owner can add eligible Space members directly to the Subspace or Activity's Private members page.
These membership types should not be confused:
Manage Access After Publication
Every private Space area exposes a Private members administration page at that same scope. The Space owner can add people and remove existing private members. People with delegated management access may be able to view the page, but the verified add and remove path remains owner-only.
For a private root Space, adding someone starts an invitation rather than silently joining them. For a private Subspace or Activity, the picker searches among people already associated with the Space and adds the selected members to that protected area.
Removing a person takes away entry to the area after their access state refreshes. It does not delete their account, remove unrelated Space membership, or automatically change a separately assigned role. Follow Manage Private Area Access for the complete owner workflow.
Privacy Across Connected Work
Chat, posts, documents, Meetings, Goals, Events, articles, and About content can all belong to the same Space area. Each owning surface must respect that area's privacy; an item does not become public because it appears in another app.
Be careful when using cross-area curation. Current Space Pin previews do not retain enough source-area information to guarantee safe filtering of a title and thumbnail from a private Subspace or Activity. Do not pin private-area content to the shared Space panel. Community Guidance explains the safe use of pins.
Common Questions
Can I make an existing public area private?
No supported workflow currently switches privacy after publication. Create the area with the intended boundary from the start.
Does access to a private Space include its Subspaces and Activities?
Yes. A private root protects everything below it. A nested area can also add its own private boundary inside a public parent.
Does adding a private member make them an admin?
No. It grants entry only. Assign a role separately when the person needs additional capabilities.
Why does adding someone to a private Space send an invitation?
Invitation acceptance establishes the protected root membership and adds the Space to the person's joined navigation. Nested areas can add existing Space members directly.
Can a delegated manager add or remove private members?
The current verified mutation path is owner-only. Delegated management can expose read access to the member list without granting the ability to change it.
Will a private item appear in Search or public lists?
It should not appear to someone who lacks access. Private protection applies to broad discovery as well as direct routes.
Can I pin content from a private Activity?
Do not do this. Current Space Pin previews cannot guarantee that private source metadata stays hidden from the shared Space panel.