Private preview links

A hike you are still building is private. A private preview link lets you show the draft to a friend, a teacher or a partner organization without publishing it and without asking them to make an account.

Making a link

Open your hike in the builder, go to Review & publish, and find Private preview link. Press Make a link, then copy the address. It is shown only once, so copy it right away. If you lose it, make another.

Anyone who can edit the hike can make links.

What the person sees

• The draft as it is right now. If you keep editing, they see the newest version when they reload.
• A normal hike page with a notice at the top saying it is a private preview.
• No sign-in is needed, and the page is not listed in search results.

They cannot edit anything, rate or save the hike, send suggestions, answer the quiz, start trail mode, or download the printable kit or the route file. Photos and text that an administrator has hidden stay hidden.

How long a link lasts

A link works for 72 hours after you make it, then shows a page saying the preview link has expired. You can have up to 5 active links for a hike. The card lists each active link with when it was made and when it expires, and a Turn off button beside it. Once a link is turned off it stops working immediately. To stop sharing, turn the link off or let it expire.

Good to know

• Treat the address like a private message. Anyone who has it can open it until it expires, so send it only to people you want to see the draft.
• Photos on a draft have their own web addresses. A preview link does not make them more public than they already are.
• A hike that is under an administrative hold cannot be shown with a preview link.
• Hikes you have already published are unaffected: visitors keep seeing the published version, and a preview link shows your staged edits on top of it.