Article visibility
Article visibility has two parts: the Listed in listing state controls where the article appears, and the audience controls who can read it. Listing state never affects access, and access never affects listing.
Listing states
State | Where the article appears |
|---|---|
Everywhere | Sidebar, search, and AI assistant. This is the default. |
Unlisted | Hidden from the sidebar, but still in search and the AI assistant. |
Hidden | Direct link only. Not in the sidebar, search, or AI assistant. |
AI assistant only | Training material for Fern. Not reachable by end-users. Direct links return a 404 for everyone, including authors. |
Change the listing state
Open the article in the editor.
Click the Edit article settings settings-icon button in the editor header. A side panel will open.
Under Visibility, find the Listed in dropdown.
Select your preferred state.
Save your changes.
Audience access
Under Visibility, next to Listed in, the article settings also include an audience with three choices. The audience decides who can read the article; it does not change where the article appears.
Inherit from the collection (shown with the collection's name when available). The option's description names the audience the article inherits, for example anyone or anyone signed in.
Anyone signed in, described as "Readable by anyone with a help center account." This choice appears only when the collection itself is not restricted and the help center is public.
Specific user groups, described as "Readable by the user groups you pick." You can only pick groups the collection already allows. If the collection is restricted to groups but has none configured, the panel shows "No user groups available for this collection." See User groups for creating and managing groups.
An article's audience can only narrow its collection's audience, never widen it. Ferndesk rejects an override that is more public than the collection.
On plans without help-center authentication, Anyone signed in appears dimmed and starts the upgrade flow instead of changing the selection.
A reader who fails only the article's own audience requirement never sees the article at all: the article is hidden, not shown with a lock. Show with a lock and lock messages are configured at the section or collection level only. For setting the audience of a whole section or collection, see Section and collection access.
Search engine indexing under restricted collections
Articles are automatically noindexed when the collection they sit in, or any ancestor collection, is not visible without signing in. Search engines are told not to index the article even when its own noindex setting is off, and readers with access can still open it. To keep an article indexable, every collection above it must be readable without signing in. For how to set a collection's or section's audience, see Section and collection access.
Direct links to restricted content never expose the article. When a hidden article or collection is opened by a reader without access, a signed-out reader gets a 401 response and a signed-in reader without access gets 403. Both see a no-access card instead of the article, and the response never includes the article or collection title. A URL that matches no content at all still returns 404.