Sharing a result by link

Summary#

Share public link publishes a snapshot of the result on screen at a public web address. Anyone who has that address can read it: no account, no sign-in, no password. The page is read-only, all its interactive controls are removed, and it carries your branding if you have set any up. Links created from the app do not expire, so treat the URL itself as the only thing standing between the report and the open internet.

Purpose#

Sending a client a PDF works, until they ask a question about page four and nobody can agree which version they are looking at. A link solves that: one address, one report, readable on a phone, with the charts intact.

It also solves the access problem. Making a client create an account to read one report is a bad trade, so a share page needs nothing at all from the reader. The cost of that convenience is that the link is genuinely public, and this page is mostly about understanding that trade honestly.

Requirements#

• A signed-in account. Anonymous visitors cannot create links.
• A finished result on screen. There must be something to capture.
• A result under the size limit. A captured report over 2 MB is rejected with Report too large — max 2MB.
• No plan requirement. Sharing works on every plan, including Free, and costs no credits.

Permissions#

The reader gets a read-only page. They cannot run tools, change inputs, export, or reach your account from it.

Navigation Path#

Dashboard → any tool → run it → export row → Share public link

There is a second entry point on results that have category tabs: View Full Report in the tab bar builds the same kind of page and opens it in a new tab. See Executive summaries and result tabs.

Step-by-Step Guide#

1. Run the tool and let the result finish rendering.
2. Press Share public link. A dialog opens reading Creating public link… with the note that it is snapshotting your report by title.
3. Wait a moment. The dialog becomes Public link ready, with the line Anyone with this URL can view "<report title>" — no sign-in needed.
4. Copy the address. The URL sits in a read-only field with a Copy button next to it, which changes to Copied for a moment when it succeeds.
5. Check it before you send it. Preview opens the live public page in a new tab. This is exactly what your recipient will see.
6. Send it. Paste the URL, or use Share on LinkedIn or Share on X to open a pre-filled post. Close dismisses the dialog.

Escape or a click outside the dialog closes it at any point.

What the URL looks like#

https://metricvaultai.com/share/<code>

The code is ten characters drawn from an alphabet that deliberately omits the easily-confused ones, so there is no i, l, o, 0 or 1 to mistype when someone reads a link aloud.

What gets captured, and what does not#

The page is a snapshot of the result taken at the moment you pressed the button. It is not a live view, and it will never change because the underlying data changed.

Removed before publishing

• Every input, dropdown, text box and button
• The export row and the tab bar
• The sample banner and the example link
• Floating action buttons

Kept, and made safe to read

• Every section of the report, with all category tabs expanded so nothing is hidden behind a tab the reader cannot click
• Tables, KPI tiles, verdicts and prose
• Charts, converted to images or redrawn on the page. A chart that had not drawn anything is dropped along with its heading, so a shared report never contains an empty frame. See Charts and visualizations
• The light or dark theme you were using when you created it

The public page adds a header with your logo or the Metric Vault wordmark, the report title, and a footer line reading Shared <date> · Viewed N times. That view counter increments every time anyone opens the page.

Who can see it, in plain terms#

Anyone with the URL. There is no password, no expiry on links created in the app, no allow-list of email addresses and no view limit. A recipient can forward the link and the next person can open it just as easily.

That is the right default for sending a client a report, and the wrong default for anything confidential. For sensitive material, export a PDF and send that instead: a file goes to the people you attached it to. See Exporting results.

Undoing a share#

A share link is not something you can currently switch off from inside the app. There is no screen listing your links and no delete button for them, so plan on the basis that a link you create is a link that stays live.

Deleting the saved result in your Library does not remove a share link, and cancelling a subscription does not either. The two are stored separately.

What the reader sees#

A single, clean page:

1. A header with your logo, or your company name, or the Metric Vault wordmark if you have not set branding up.
2. The report title as a heading.
3. The report itself in a card, with every section expanded.
4. A footer showing when it was shared and how many times it has been viewed.
5. Unless you have hidden it, a Powered by Metric Vault → button in the header and a Run your own analysis → button at the foot.

With white-label branding on a Pro plan or above, the logo, the colors, the page title and the footer all become yours, and the Metric Vault buttons can be removed entirely. See White-label reports and Custom branding.

Examples#

Screenshots#

Tips#

• Always press Preview before sending. It takes two seconds and catches a missing chart or a truncated table before your client does.
• Create the link in the theme you want the reader to see; the page keeps the light or dark theme you were using.
• Set up branding once, before your first client link, rather than resharing later.
• Give the link a home: paste it into the same place every month so clients learn where to look.

Best Practices#

• Share links for reports; send files for anything sensitive.
• Never share a result that contains material a client has not seen, credentials, or a domain you are not authorised to discuss.
• Create one link per deliverable rather than reusing an old one, so the date in the footer matches the work.
• Keep a copy for yourself. Export the same result as a PDF so you have a fixed record of what you sent.

Common Mistakes#

• Assuming the link is private because it is unguessable. It is unlisted, not protected.
• Expecting the page to update. It is a snapshot, frozen at the moment of creation.
• Deleting the saved result to unpublish the page. The two are separate; the page stays up.
• Sharing a sample result. Sample banners are stripped from the capture, so the reader has no way of knowing it was an example. Run real data before sharing.

Limitations#

• Links created in the app never expire.
• There is no in-app list of your share links and no revoke button; removal is a support request.
• There is no password protection, email restriction or view cap.
• The page is a snapshot; it does not refresh with new data.
• A captured report over 2 MB is refused with Report too large — max 2MB.
• The public page carries no export controls, so a recipient cannot download it as a file. Send them a file if they need one.

Troubleshooting#

FAQs#

Does the recipient need a Metric Vault account? No. That is the point of a share link. The page states this itself: anyone with the URL can view it, no sign-in needed.

Can I password-protect a link? No. If the content needs protecting, export a file instead.

Can I delete a link? Not from the app. Email support@metricvaultai.com with the URL and ask for it to be removed.

Does sharing cost credits? No. Creating a link is free on every plan.

Will the report update when the data changes? No. It is a snapshot of the result at the moment you created it.

How do I know whether anyone opened it? The public page shows a view count in its footer, and your in-app notifications report when a shared report has been viewed. See Every notification you can receive.

Can a recipient export the page? Not from the page itself; share pages carry no export controls. They can still print the page from their browser.

Is this the same thing as View Full Report? It uses the same mechanism. View Full Report builds this same kind of page and opens it in a new tab, on tabbed results and on long clamped ones alike. On a tabbed result it also reveals every section in place on your own screen. The difference is only that Share public link hands you the address to copy. See Executive summaries and result tabs.