> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.merciv.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sharing and permissions

> How access works across projects, reports, stories, artifacts, and files.

Everything you create in Merciv lives inside your organization and is **private to you by default**. Teammates never see your items until you share them. From there, sharing works along three axes: per-user sharing, organization-wide sharing, and public links.

## Per-user sharing

The share dialog is the same across projects, reports, stories, artifacts, and Knowledge files and folders. Open it from the **Share** action on an item, search for teammates by name, choose **Viewer** or **Editor**, and click **Add Users**.

* **Viewer** — can open and read the item.
* **Editor** — can also modify it and share it with others.
* **Owner** — the creator; has full control, including delete. The owner's access can't be changed or removed.

Only editors and owners can share an item — viewers see "You do not have permission to share this item." The access list in the dialog shows everyone with access; editors and owners can switch others between Viewer and Editor or remove them.

When you share something, the recipient gets an in-app notification in their **Inbox** linking to the item.

### Project access levels

Projects use the same model with project-specific effects:

* **Owner** — everything, including deleting the project.
* **Editor** — rename the project, edit its description and cover, create items inside it, and share it.
* **Viewer** — read-only; no Share button, no editing.

Sharing a project shares access to the work grouped inside it, which is the fastest way to give a teammate a whole body of related work at once. See [Projects](/projects/overview).

## Organization-wide sharing

Two places support making something visible to your whole organization:

* **Stories** — organization admins see an "Everyone at \[organization]" toggle in a story's share dialog, granting view access to everyone in the organization.
* **Knowledge files and folders** — the uploader can switch an item between **Private** and **Organization** access. See [Organizing and sharing](/knowledge/organizing-and-sharing).

Projects, chats, reports, galleries, and artifacts do not have an organization-wide toggle — they are shared per-user only.

## Public links

Some items can be shared outside your organization with a view-only link that works without a Merciv account:

* **Reports** — switch visibility to **Public** to generate a share link; anyone with the link can view the report. Switching back to Private expires the link immediately. See [Sharing and exporting reports](/reports/sharing-and-exporting).
* **Stories** — organization admins can toggle "Anyone with the link" to publish a story publicly.
* **Artifacts** — toggle a public link on an artifact's share menu.

Public-link visitors can only view — they can never edit.

<Note>
  Public artifact links are available on select plans. Contact your Merciv representative if you don't see the option.
</Note>

## What can't be shared

**Chats are always private to their creator.** There is no share option on a chat, and no one else — including organization admins — can open your conversations. To share the outcome of a chat, share the artifact it produced or copy its content into a [report](/reports/overview).

## Roles in your organization

* **Member** — the default role. Full product use, personal settings, and per-user sharing of items they own.
* **Organization admin** — everything a member can do, plus organization settings: inviting and removing members, toggling other members' admin status, managing approved email domains, branding, billing, organization-wide story sharing, and public story links.
* **Primary admin (owner)** — the organization's designated owner, with guaranteed billing access.

Admins manage members and roles under **Settings → Members**. See [Managing your organization](/admin/managing-your-organization). Note that admin status doesn't bypass item privacy — a member's private items stay private.

## Good to know

* **Access changes apply in near-real time.** Someone who loses access to an open item may be redirected the next time it loads.
* **Opening a link without access** shows "No access — You don't have access to this project" (or the equivalent for the item type) and returns you to Home. Ask the owner to share it with you.
* **Sharing is organization-scoped.** Per-user sharing only reaches members of your organization; use public links to reach anyone else.
* **Deleting is archiving.** Deleted projects, chats, reports, and galleries disappear from all lists and can't be restored self-service — contact support if you deleted something by mistake.