Publishing & Sharing Folios

Publishing a Folio gives you a shareable web page that people can open without an Obvious account. You can share it openly or protect it with a PIN or password, and give the link a readable URL for your audience. For branded publishing, your workspace can also connect a custom domain.

Publish and share a Folio

1. Open the Folio you want to share.

2. Select the Share icon in the toolbar. The Publish folio window opens. This window contains the link and access options for the published Folio.

3. Choose an access mode:

   • Public — Anyone with the link can view the Folio.
   • PIN Protected — Viewers enter a 4-digit PIN. Share the PIN separately from the link.
   • Password Protected — Viewers enter a password of at least 8 characters. Share the password separately from the link.

4. Select Publish.

5. Copy the published URL from the toolbar, or select Copy link in the publish window.

When you publish another version with the same protected access mode, you can leave the PIN or password empty to keep the current one.

Set a custom slug

By default, the end of a Folio’s published URL is its artifact ID. A custom slug replaces that ID with a shorter, more recognizable path for this Folio.

When your workspace has custom URLs configured, the publish window suggests an available slug. Edit the suggestion if you want a different one. Select Remove to return to the artifact-ID URL, or Customize to use a custom slug again.

A slug can contain lowercase letters, numbers, and internal hyphens. It cannot begin or end with a hyphen, can contain up to 50 characters, and must be unique within your workspace.

If the custom-slug option isn’t available, you may need to contact a workspace administrator.

Use a custom domain

A custom slug changes the path for one Folio. A custom domain changes the branded web address used by published Folios across the workspace, such as reports.example.com. Since a custom domain applies to every published Folio in the workspace, it is set up once by a workspace administrator.

1. Open Settings → General and find Custom Domain.
2. Enter the domain you want to use and select Set Domain.
3. Obvious shows two DNS records. Copy both records into the DNS settings at your domain provider, using the names and values exactly as Obvious displays them.
4. Return to Obvious and select Re-check DNS.
5. When the domain shows Verified, published Folio links can use the custom domain.

DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to take effect. If the domain still shows Pending verification, compare both records with the values in Obvious, wait for the changes to update, then select Re-check DNS again.

If Custom Domain does not appear in Settings → General, contact Obvious Support to confirm whether custom domains are available for your workspace and whether you have the required access.

Remove a custom domain

In Settings → General, use the remove control beside the domain and confirm Remove Domain. Published Folios stop resolving at that custom hostname, but their standard Folio URLs and published versions remain. Replace any shared custom-domain links before removing the domain.

Change sharing settings or publish edits

To change the access mode, PIN, password, or slug for the current published Folio, open Update publish settings from the toolbar. Make your changes and select Update. The settings apply to the current published version.

After editing the Folio itself, select the Share icon and then Publish new version. Publishing content edits creates a new published version while keeping the same URL when the slug and workspace domain have not changed. Changing or removing the slug or custom domain changes the URL.

Remove a published version

Open the version selector, hover over the version you want to remove, select the trash control, then confirm Delete in the Delete Version window. This removes the published snapshot without deleting the source Folio.

If an older published version remains, the Folio slug can fall back to that version. To make a published link stop resolving, remove every published version associated with it.

Export a Folio as a PDF

When PDF download is available, select Save as PDF in the Folio toolbar. You can also open More options, choose Download, then select PDF. Obvious prepares the export and downloads the PDF when it is ready.

Some workspaces also show Generate PDF, which opens a separate designed-PDF workflow.

If you still need help publishing, sharing, or managing a Folio, contact Obvious Support.