# Make a Confluence space public without anonymous access

You can make a Confluence space public without turning on anonymous access. Capable Sites reads the space with the app's own access and publishes a copy as a separate website. Create a site with that space, leave Access on **Public**, then promote it. Visitors need no Atlassian account, and your Confluence site stays private.

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## Before you start

| **You need**                          | **Why**                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| A Confluence admin                    | Only admins can create a site.                                                                                                |
| A space you have checked page by page | Confluence page restrictions do not carry over. A restricted page is published unless it has the capable-sites-exclude label. |
| A web address you are happy with      | The site address cannot be changed later, though you can add your own domain.                                                 |

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## Steps

1. In the space, add the label `capable-sites-exclude` to every page that must stay private, including its child pages.
2. Open Capable, choose **Sites**, then **Create site**.
3. On **Overview**, enter the site name and check the web address. Select **Continue**.
4. On **Scope**, add the space and select its house icon to make it the home space. Select **Continue**.
5. On **Theme**, pick a palette and add your logo. Select **Continue**.
6. On **Access**, leave **Public** selected. Select **Continue**.
7. On **Create**, tick **Publish it right away** and select **Create and publish**.
8. When the build finishes, check the staging preview, then select **Promote** and **Promote to production**.

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## What happens next

The space is on the web at the site's address, with a sitemap and a robots.txt that welcome search engines. Nothing changes in Confluence: anonymous access stays off, and anyone who opens the space in Confluence still has to sign in. Edits reach the public site only when you run Update and Promote.

⚠️

Leave **Open in Confluence** off, under **Settings** then **Integrations**. It adds a link back to each Confluence page, which sends public visitors to a login screen and shows them your Confluence address.

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## A few things that catch people out

* Links inside your pages to Confluence pages that are not on the site still point at Confluence. See [Links to some Confluence pages send visitors to an Atlassian login screen](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/links-to-some-confluence-pages-send-visitors-to-an-atlassian-login-screen.html).
* Blog posts, whiteboards, databases and comments are never published. See [What becomes a page](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/what-becomes-a-page.html).
* To make the space visible to some people only, choose a different Access mode. See [Securing a published site](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/securing-a-published-site.html).

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## Related

### [Publish Confluence pages as a public documentation site](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/publish-confluence-pages-as-a-public-documentation-site.html)

Build a full documentation site.

### [Keep a Confluence page off a published site](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/keep-a-confluence-page-off-a-published-site.html)

The exclude label, step by step.

### [Who can see your site](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/who-can-see-your-site.html)

Public, password and sign-in options.

### [What becomes a page](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/what-becomes-a-page.html)

What is and is not published.

### [Publishing and updating your site](https://help.gocapable.com/sites/publishing-and-updating-your-site.html)

All publishing guides.

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_Public on the web. Private in Confluence._