Branch Press

Branch Press · docs

Publishing, and being read

How a private note becomes a public page, what a reader finds there, your profile, following, and how another writer can branch from your essay.

Private until you say so

One switch, no separate step

Every note starts private. Nothing you write in Branchspace is seen by anyone until you publish it, and there is no step where something becomes public on its own.

To publish a note, use any of these three. They do the same thing:

▾ My Space Habit Forgetting
Open Open in new tab Rename Relocate… Take it out…Save as template… Private Delete
1
Right-click the note in the Explorer and press Private. The row says what the note is now, so on a published note it reads Published, switched on.
FileEditStyleInsertConnectReview
Saved412 wordsPrivate3 outgoing · 1 backlink
2
The switch in the File tab of the editing island: a lock while the note is private, a globe once it is public. The status bar under the note says the same in a word, and clicking the word asks too.
Command paletteEsc
publish
Publish current noteVisibility
Make current note privateVisibility
3
Ctrl P, then “Publish current note”. Or “Make current note private”, to go the other way.
Three doors to one switch. Whichever you use, the note's state is the same everywhere a moment later.

Branchspace asks you to confirm first. Once published, the note's public link is copied, ready to paste, and a small globe appears beside it in the Explorer, in the note's own colour.

Publish “Habit”?Anyone with its link will be able to read it.
CancelPublish
A
You are asked once. Cancel leaves it private.
▾ My Space Habit Forgetting
Public link copiedPublic
B
A globe in the note's colour marks it in the Explorer, and the status bar says the link is copied.
Paste it anywhere:https://branchpress.org/s?n=7c1e…The link is the note's for as long as it stays public.
C
The link is on your clipboard, ready for a message, a post or a page.
Publishing, from the confirmation to the link. Nothing else is needed: no separate publish step, no waiting.
  1. 1Private
    Every note starts here. Nobody but you sees it.
  2. 2Published
    You confirm; its link is copied; a globe marks it.
  3. 3Read
    A page of its own, on your profile, with its small graph.
  4. 4Branched
    An essay can be answered by another writer's essay.
A note's life in public. Step 2 can always be undone; see Taking it back below.

A template can never be published. It is a tool rather than a piece of writing. Make a note from it and publish that instead.

A whole space at once

Right-click a space

A space's menu has Publish space…, which publishes every note in it and copies one link to an index of the whole space, for a set of notes meant to be read together. Make all notes private undoes it.

The index link carries your handle, so it needs a username on your profile first. Branchspace tells you if one is missing.

▾ Habits of Mind
New noteNew folder inside Rename folderIcon and color…Move to top level Make all notes privatePublish space… Delete folder
1
Right-click the space. The two rows side by side: all private, or all public.
Publish every note in “Habits of Mind”?Its public link is copied, ready to share.
CancelPublish all
2
Confirm. Every note in it is published, and the index link is copied.
SHARED FOLDERHabits of Mind
HabitForgettingAttentionCraving
Published from a Branchspace · Branch Press
3
The index, at /s?f=…&u=your-handle: the space's name and a link to each note.
A space published at once, for notes meant to be read together.

What a reader finds

A page of its own, at /s

A published note gets its own page. What a reader sees there:

1 The Architecture of Habit What we return to, deepens 24 September 2026 · Your Name
psychologymemory
2
3
Branches
On UnlearningA. Writer · 2 days ago
Start a branch
4
Local graph
Published from a Branchspace · Branch Press
  1. 1
    The title, and reading mode. Click it and the page gives way to the text alone, in the reader's own choice of paper, typeface and size. The choice follows them from one piece to the next.
  2. 2
    The note, set the way you wrote it. An essay keeps its masthead, contents and references. A signed-in reader can highlight and write in the margin; those are theirs alone. You never see them, and neither does anyone else.
  3. 3
    Branches. Essays other writers grew from this one, and Start a branch if yours is open to it. See below.
  4. 4
    A small graph. Only your other public notes that it links to, or that link to it.
A published note's page, at /s?n=…. The highlighted line is a reader's own highlight, seen only by them.

A private neighbour is simply absent. If a public note links to a private one, the reader sees neither a dot nor a count for it. Nothing tells them it exists.

HabitForgettingTrustSleep · private
1
Your Branchspace. Habit links to three notes; one of them is private.
HabitForgettingTrust
2
Habit's page. Two neighbours. No grey dot, no “and one more”, no gap where Sleep was.
The same note, from both sides. Publish Sleep later and it simply appears on Habit's page, with its line.

Your profile

/u?u=your-handle

Your profile is where a reader finds everything you have made public: your public spaces, your latest activity, a calendar of the days you wrote, and the graph of your public notes.

1 PAGESProfileBranchesEssaysGraphAlbumBoards PRIVATESavesBranchspaceSettingsReport
2 Your Name@your-handle A line about you.
Follow Share
3
4This year
  1. 1
    Pages. Profile, Branches (your public spaces and latest activity), Essays, Graph, Album and Boards. Below them, only you see a Private group.
  2. 2
    Who you are. Your photo, name, handle and bio, with Follow for a visitor (Edit profile for you) and Share.
  3. 3
    The graph of your public notes. The same graph the graph guide describes.
  4. 4
    The calendar. The days you wrote. Deeper colour, more writing. It can count your private writing too, as numbers only.
A profile, at /u?u=your-handle, as a visitor sees it.

A profile is public by default, because a press is its writers. To make yours private, go to Edit profile and clear Public profile — anyone can view this page. Your calendar can also count your private writing if you want it to. It shows counts only, never content.

Following, and being told

The bell in Branchspace's rail

A profile has a Follow button. When a writer you follow publishes, it appears in your notifications, along with news about your own work, such as someone branching from one of your essays.

What counts as news is yours to set, in Settings ▸ Reading ▸ Following:

Following Tell me when writers I follow publish EssaysEvery public note
When I publish a journal, let my followers know
1
Settings ▸ Reading. Essays is quieter; Every public note tells you everything. The last box is about your own journals: they reach your followers only if you tick it.
NotificationsWhat you are told about
A. Writer published On Unlearning2 hours ago
R. Reader branched from your essay The Architecture of Habit: Habit and Placeyesterday
M. Poet started following you3 days ago
2
The notifications page, from the bell. Unread ones carry the mark on the left.
What you hear, and where. Three kinds of news: a writer you follow published, someone branched from your essay, someone followed you.
Essays
Hear only when a writer you follow publishes an essay.
Every public note
Hear about anything they make public.
Journals
A journal reaches your followers only if you tick When I publish a journal, let my followers know.

Following is private. Nobody can see whom you follow or how many people follow you. Your own followers list is visible to you alone.

Branching

An essay written in answer to another

A published essay can be answered by another writer with an essay of their own: a branch. It is how one piece of thinking grows out of another on the site, with the line between them kept visible.

The Architecture of HabitYour Name
BranchesStart a branch
1
Your essay. A signed-in reader presses Start a branch at its foot.
My Space / Untitled · branching from “The Architecture of Habit”
Title
“A habit is a path worn by use: the first crossing is effort, the hundredth is …”The Architecture of Habit
psychologymemory
Branching from “The Architecture of Habit” — the answer is yours to write
2
Their Branchspace opens a new essay of their own: the opening of yours as a quotation (no more than 55 words), linked back, and your tags. Nothing is sent until they publish.
Habit and PlaceA branch of “The Architecture of Habit” by Your Name
3
Their essay, published, opens with “A branch of …” and your name. You are told in your notifications, and yours lists it under Branches.
A branch, from both desks. Your essay is never copied: theirs quotes its opening and points back.
your essaytheir branch
A
In their graph, your essay appears as a grey borrowed dot, with its own public neighbours, joined to their branch. They can hide borrowed notes in the graph's gear.
Open Rename Open to branching Published Delete
B
On your essay's menu, Open to branching is on unless you switch it off. Switching it off stops new branches; the ones it has stay.
Afterwards. The line between the two essays stays visible from both sides.

Essays are open to branching by default. To close one, right-click it and switch off Open to branching. The branches it already has stay where they are.

A branch quotes only the opening of your essay, never all of it. The essay stays yours; theirs is a reply. If either of you has blocked the other, the branch is refused. The refusal looks exactly like an essay that is closed to branching, so nothing tells anyone about the block.

Taking it back

Publishing is not permanent, copies may be

Make a note private again and its page stops answering at once. It leaves your profile, graphs and notifications from then on.

  1. 1Public
    Its page answers. Anyone with the link can read it, and a search engine may visit.
  2. 2Made private
    At once, the page stops answering; from then on the note is gone from your profile, graphs and notifications.
  3. 3What remains
    Copies someone already made: a saved page, a screenshot, a search engine's cache. Those are out of anyone's reach.
Taking a note back. The switch is instant; the world's memory is not.

What cannot be undone is what happened while it was public: anyone could read it, and a reader or a search engine may have kept a copy. Publish what you are content to have read, and keep drafts private until they are ready.

Where to go next

The other guides

  • Using Branchspace — the workspace where the writing happens.
  • The graph — what the dots, lines and colours mean, and how to read them.
  • Templates — starting a note from a shape you already like.

All guides

Something wrong or unclear here? Tell us

Last checked against the site on 27 September 2026