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Share links - Knowledge share

Sharing knowledge is critical to everyone being on the same page about how your system works and what is being built. If everyone is on the same page, better informed decisions can be made.

IcePanel Share links make this super simple and easy, by allowing a read only and up-to-date version of your design to be shared with just a URL. You can also share frozen versions and add passwords on the paid plans.

Share links are unlimited, so only the collaborators and editors of your landscapes need to have an account with IcePanel.

Public share links are accessible to anyone with the URL. These are read only and can be created by clicking Share within a landscape at the top right of the screen. This opens the share modal and you can turn URL share links by turning on the Share link is on toggle. There are also some advanced settings to set up the starting point of your link - Mentioned below ⬇️.

Paid feature

You can turn on password protected links for those who are security conscious or you want to minimise the risk of someone unwanted accessing your architecture docs.

Advanced settings​

Advanced settings in the share modal

Advanced settings in the share modal

Advanced settings can be applied when creating a share link, to put your viewers exactly where you want them to be in your docs. The URL will append these setting to the end of the share link shown in the menu. These settings only apply to the URL you can see in the menu, and do not update previously created share links.

  • No advanced settings set: This will put the viewer of the link at the start of your landscape on the first diagram. Best for those who want to navigate the whole architecture.
  • From my current view: This will put the viewer exactly where you are at the point of creating your link, including diagram, zoom position and selected objects. This is best to put someone exactly where you want them to learn about or understand something in your design. Navigation is still allowed with just this turned on.
  • Prevent navigation: This is only active with "From my current view" selected. This will stop any navigation to other diagrams, zooming in and out of the diagrams and accessing the other tab (Model or Diagrams). This is best when showing clients or customers a design without them straying away from the conversation you're having.
  • Default tag group: This will open and set the default tag group to show the particular perspective you want to show. This is best to emphasis a specific lens you want your audience to view your design in.

Latest version​

By sharing the latest version of your design, everyone is kept up to date with the latest design, meaning no one needs to ask you for your latest file / design.

Frozen version​

Paid feature

Sharing a frozen version acts as a static version of your diagram and docs. Updates to your latest design will not be pushed to these links.

To create these links, create a share link whilst on the version you want to share on the version timeline. You can see which versions have links on them by using the version dropdown and look for the 🔗 link icon or clicking Share and seeing if the toggle is on or off.

See Versioning for more information.

Creating a Share link is super easy:

  1. Click Share in the top right of the UI
  2. Turn on share link with the toggle
  3. Add any advanced settings you want
  4. Copy the URL and send to your audience

You can now send this to anyone, allowing them to explore your designs and docs, without needing an account.

When creating a share link, you can apply advanced settings at the time of creating it, which will put your audience exactly where you want them when they open it.

This share link is for the landscape and the version you create it in.

Creating and opening a share link

Creating and opening a share link

Sometimes you will want to remove previous access to a share link or maybe a share link was only needed for a 1 off conversation with a client / customer.

You can simply go back to share link and turn off the share link toggle to remove all access via that URL.

Generate a new URL​

Sometimes you will want to remove previous access to a share link but start access through a new URL for security or access control reasons.

If you want to generate a new URL and remove access to the previous one, you can simply generate a new URL using the Generate new link button or turn off and on the share link toggle.

This will remove access to the previous URL, so you will have to update any links you have in other documentation sources or channels.

Want to embed in another tool? Contact us

Some tools allow for embedding iFrames directly into them, which means you can put your IcePanel docs directly into other sources of documentation. These links will also remain up to date if you're sharing the latest version without having to update your links!

A powerful way to use this feature is to share a specific diagram with the advanced settings to a diagram that helps explains what your docs show and if updates are made, the diagram is already updated without you having to export and update an image!

Paste your IcePanel share link in this format:

<iframe src="s.icepanel.io/____" height="800" width="1200" title="Your landscape / diagram name"></iframe>

Embed in Notion​

👍 Pros: Fully interactive and looks great in the dark appearance.

👎 Cons: none to note

Notion embed help

  1. Add an embedded link by typing /embed.
  2. Paste your IcePanel share link
  3. Resize the embedded URL to max width and height to be readable by your audience.

Embed in Miro​

Using iFrame capture:

👍 Pros: Fully interactive.

👎 Cons: You can't see the diagram or interact until you click on a blank image

Miro embed help

  1. From a Miro board, add a Paste iFrame code from the apps section in the Miro tool bar
  2. Copy the iFrame code from IcePanel with your share link
  3. Paste the iFrame code into miro's embed iFrame code menu

This currently requies clicking on a blank grey image to load and interact with, but it is fully interactive inside Miro.

ℹ️ We recommend adding a link to the up-to-date share link by:

  1. Selecting the iFrame
  2. Add link by using hotkey Cmd + K or Crtl + K or by selecting the 3 dots menu on the image and then selecting Link to
  3. Paste in the share link

Using Web page capture:

👍 Pros: It loads the diagram in the page.

👎 Cons: Image is not interactive and it has a fixed aspect ratio that feels slightly crampt.

Miro embed help

  1. From a Miro board, add a Web page capture from the apps section in the left tool bar
  2. Copy your share link from IcePanel
  3. Paste the share link into miro's Capture web page menu

This is not interactive, but can be updated to the latest version of the design by pressing the update option on the Miro frame.

ℹ️ We recommend adding a link to the up-to-date share link by:

  1. Selecting the image captured
  2. Add link by using hotkey Cmd + K or Crtl + K or by selecting the 3 dots menu on the image and then selecting Link to
  3. Paste in the share link

Embed in Confluence​

👍 Pros: Fully interactive

👎 Cons: The sizing for the iFrame is hard to get right with many screen sizes to consider, and you're still unfortunately using confluence 👀

This will differ depending on which version of Confluence you are using.

Confluence server help for iFrames - This requires more steps and admin rights.

Confluence cloud help for iFrames

Steps for Confluence cloud:

  1. Insert an iFrame macro with the + icon
  2. Copy your IcePanel share link
  3. Paste share link in URL field
  4. Set recommended size settings: Width=1200, Height=800
  5. If your confluence page is set to fixed width, set “Go full width” under iFrame. (This doesn't show if the confluence page is set to full width)
  6. We also recommend adding your share link under the iFrame for a direct link

Embed in SharePoint​

👍 Pros: Fully interactive

👎 Cons: The sizing for the iFrame is hard to get right with many screen sizes to consider, and you still have using SharePoint 👀

SharePoint help for iFrames

Using URL:

  1. Insert an embed web part from the + list
  2. Paste your IcePanel share link
  3. Click "resize to fit the page"

Using embed content - iFrame:

  1. Insert an embed web part from the + list
  2. Paste your IcePanel share link in this format: <iframe src="s.icepanel.io/____" height="800" width="1200" title="Your landscape / diagram name"></iframe>

We recommend using maximum height and width or a min Height=800, Width=1200

Embed in PowerPoint - Office 365​

👍 Pros: Fully interactive during a presentation

👎 Cons: Clunky to add and need to click the next button to go to the next slide

PowerPoint the Microsoft Web Viewer AddIn help

Using Web Viewer add in:

  1. Add the Web Viewer by Microsoft AddIn to your PowerPoint
  2. Add a web viewer from AddIn's
  3. Paste in your share link into the URL slot

⚠️ Make sure to remove the duplicate https:// when you paste, as this will cause it to not work.