Sharing a chat lets someone else read the whole conversation, including anything Sparky made in it. To share just a document, slides, code or another artifact without the conversation, use the artifact's own Share action instead.
Share the chat
These steps cover saved, unarchived school-term chats. You need Can edit to add people or change access; with Can view, you can copy the existing link but the settings are read-only.
If Share is missing, open a saved chat or unarchive your chat first. Builder previews and other people's class chats do not offer Share or Duplicate, even when you have inherited edit access.
- Open the chat and click Share at the top of the page. (From the sidebar you can also click the ⋯ next to a chat and choose Share chat.)
- Search by name or email address, click Invite beside the matching result to add the person, and give each one Can view or Can edit.
- Or set General access to decide who can open the link without being added by name:
- Open to group name (or Public) — the option's description tells you who can open it. The audience depends on the permissions of the school, class or term containing the chat.
- Anyone with the link — people within the audience described under the option can open it without being added by name. The link does not bypass the chat's parent permissions.
- Private — the link alone grants no access; existing direct and inherited access still applies.
- Click Copy link to copy the address, then Done to save your changes.
Send the link however you normally would — email, your LMS, a message. After Done, Flint may ask whether to send invitation emails. Select Send emails to notify those invitees, or Not now to keep the saved access without sending emails.
What the other person can do
| They have | They can |
|---|---|
| Can view | Read the conversation and open anything Sparky made in it |
| Can edit | The same, plus manage who can access the chat, share its artifacts, archive it, and Duplicate or rename it where those actions are available |
Only the person who started a chat can keep typing in it. If someone wants to carry the conversation on, give them Can edit and ask them to open the ⋯ More actions menu at the top of the chat and choose Duplicate. That gives them their own copy of the whole conversation to continue in, and leaves yours untouched.
Can edit lets the recipient change who can access your original conversation, not just make a copy. School grade-level restrictions can also disable duplication and renaming.
Sharing a session from inside an activity works a little differently — see How to share a session in Flint. For more on the access options, see Access permissions in Flint.
Share just an artifact
In a school-term chat you can edit and share, open an artifact from a sent message. Draft attachments cannot be shared yet, and Can view access does not let you create an artifact link.
- Click Share in the artifact panel, not the chat's top bar.
- Choose General access:
- Open to a class — choose a Class. The option then reads Open to class name and lets members of that class access the artifact.
- Anyone with the link — signed-in people within the audience described under that option can open the artifact. Access stays bounded by the chat's parent activity, class and school permissions; the link is not public internet access.
- Private — the default for a new artifact link; only the owners of the chat can access the artifact through this link.
- Click Copy link and send the artifact link, then click Done to close the dialog. Audience changes save as you make them.
Recipients must sign in to Flint. The link opens a read-only artifact page without the chat transcript and shows the latest version of that artifact sent in this chat, not an unsent draft or a frozen copy. Sharing the artifact does not grant access to the whole chat or change its permissions.
Publish a copy to a library
The Share dialog for an artifact also has a Libraries section, which publishes a copy of the artifact to a library. Only the person who started the chat can publish. Students can publish to their School library. Teachers and admins can also publish to the District library, when their school has one, and to the Public library.
- Click Share in the artifact panel.
- Under Libraries, click Publish next to a library. Each row says who the copy is for.
- Click the copy button next to Unpublish to copy the link to that library's copy.
The copy is the latest version sent in this chat, and the row shows Published. Changes you make in the chat later stay out of the copy: when the chat has a newer version, the row says so and shows Update. Click Unpublish to take the copy out of that library. Anyone who owns the chat can unpublish.
A copy in the Public library opens for anyone, including people without a Flint account. School and district copies open only for people who can see that library. Deleting the chat does not remove a published copy.