MailPoet lets you share your sent newsletters publicly with a safe, shareable link that anyone can view in a browser. You can post this link on social media, include it in blog posts, or send it to people who are not on your mailing list. Public share links never expose subscriber information, tracking data, or recipient-specific details.
Quick Links
How Public Sharing Works
When you send a standard newsletter with MailPoet, the plugin can generate a public share URL for that email. This URL uses a clean, human-readable format like:
yoursite.com/emails/a1b2c3d4e5f6-your-email-subject/
This public link is completely separate from the “View in browser” link that subscribers see in their emails. The key difference is that the public share link does not contain any subscriber IDs, tokens, or tracking data. It is safe to post anywhere without risking your subscribers’ privacy.
Public sharing is available in the free version of MailPoet and works only with standard newsletters that have been sent. Draft, scheduled, or in-progress emails cannot be shared publicly.
Setting the Default Sharing Visibility
You can control whether your sent emails are public or private by default. This setting applies to all new standard newsletters unless you override it on an individual email.
- Go to MailPoet > Settings > Advanced.
- Find the Email sharing visibility setting.
- Choose one of the following options:
- Public (default): Sent emails are publicly viewable through their share link and appear in the newsletter archive.
- Private: Sent emails are not accessible through a public link and are hidden from the newsletter archive.
- Click Save settings.
The default is set to Public when you first install or update to a version with this feature. You can change it at any time, and the change applies to new emails going forward. Existing emails keep whatever visibility they already have.
Changing Visibility for Individual Emails
You can override the site default for any individual standard newsletter. This is useful when you want most emails to be public but need to keep a specific one private, or vice versa.
When setting up a standard newsletter on the send or review screen, look for the sharing visibility option. You can choose:
- Use site default: Follows whatever you configured in Settings > Advanced.
- Public: This specific email will be publicly shareable regardless of the site default.
- Private: This specific email will be private regardless of the site default.
This per-email setting is saved with the newsletter and persists after it is sent.
Sharing a Sent Email
After a standard newsletter has been sent and its visibility is set to public, you can share it from the MailPoet admin:
- Go to MailPoet > Emails.
- Find the sent email you want to share in the listing.
- Hover over the email and click the Share action link (next to Preview).
- A sharing panel appears with:
- The public share URL, ready to copy.
- Quick share buttons for Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp, and email.
- Click Copy link to copy the URL to your clipboard, or click any social button to share directly.
If the email is set to private, the Share action will explain why sharing is unavailable and offer a quick way to make the email public.
Sharing Toolbar on Public Pages
When someone opens a public share link, the email is displayed in the browser with a sharing toolbar at the top of the page. This toolbar appears above the email content and includes:
- The public share URL in a text field for easy copying.
- A Copy link button.
- Social sharing buttons for Facebook, X, WhatsApp, and email.
- A Share button that uses the device’s native sharing menu (on supported browsers and mobile devices).
The toolbar is separate from the email content and does not alter the newsletter itself. It is styled independently so it does not interfere with the email design.
Sharing from the Subscriber View
When a subscriber clicks the “View in browser” link in their email, they see the newsletter rendered in their browser. If that newsletter is public, the subscriber also sees a prompt to copy the public share link instead of their private “View in browser” URL.
This means subscribers are encouraged to share the safe, public URL rather than accidentally sharing their personal link that contains subscriber-specific data.
If the newsletter is private, no sharing prompt appears on the subscriber view.
Archive Page Integration
If you use the [mailpoet_archive] shortcode to display a list of past newsletters on a page, the archive now respects sharing visibility:
- Public emails appear in the archive list and link to the public share URL.
- Private emails are hidden from the archive list entirely.
The archive links are the same clean, safe URLs used for public sharing, so visitors who click through will see the sharing toolbar and can share the email further.
Social Media Previews
Public share URLs include OpenGraph and Twitter Card metadata so they display attractive previews when pasted on social media platforms like Facebook, X, LinkedIn, or messaging apps. The preview includes:
- The email subject as the title.
- The email preheader as the description (if set).
- The first suitable content image from the email (if available).
Placeholder images, logos, and social icons are automatically excluded from the preview image selection.
Excluding Emails from the Archive
In addition to the public or private visibility setting, you can also choose whether an individual newsletter appears in the [mailpoet_archive] list. This is separate from sharing visibility: an email can be public (shareable via its direct link) but excluded from the archive listing.
When creating or reviewing a standard newsletter before sending, look for the archive visibility checkbox. By default, the option to show the newsletter in the archive is enabled. Uncheck it to hide the email from the archive while keeping its public share link active.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which email types support public sharing?
Currently, only standard newsletters that have been sent support public sharing. Automated emails (welcome emails, post notifications, WooCommerce emails) and transactional emails are not supported at this time.
Are public share pages indexed by search engines?
No. Public share pages include a noindex, nofollow robots directive and an X-Robots-Tag header. Search engines are instructed not to index these pages.
Can subscribers see each other’s information through public share links?
No. Public share links render the email without any subscriber-specific data. Open tracking pixels, subscriber tokens, queue IDs, and personalized content are all removed from the public version.
What happens if I change an email from public to private after sharing it?
The public share link will stop working immediately. Anyone who tries to visit the link will see a 404 page. The email will also be removed from the archive listing.
Can I customize the public share URL?
The URL is automatically generated from the email’s ID and subject line. It cannot be manually customized, but if you change the email’s subject line, MailPoet will create a redirect from the old URL to the new one.
Is this feature available on the free plan?
Yes. Public email sharing is available in the free version of MailPoet. No paid plan is required.
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