Create a private SharePoint page or news post

You can create rich, compelling and durable content using SharePoint pages and news. There are times when you may need to create a page or news post and collaborate on it with others before you share it out to the wider organization. That's when private drafts are useful. 

When you create a private draft, it’s visible (including in the site Pages library) to only you and the people you share it with, as well as the site owner of the site where you're creating the draft. It does not show in the Site pages library for anyone else until you publish it. That means you can collaborate on it with a few people (even those who are not members of your site) before publishing it for your organization.

For example, if you’re creating promotional content for a product about to launch, and you’re not ready for people in your organization to learn about it yet, you might want to create a private draft. You can collaborate on it with the people who already have knowledge of the launch to get feedback, editing, and additions to content.

Once you publish the private draft, it is visible to everyone who has access to your site.

1. To begin creating your page or news post, select New in command bar on your site.

2. In the template window, select the Create private draft checkbox.
   
   

3. The page or news post that opens will have a Private indicator at the top right.
   
   

4. To invite collaborators, select Share on the command bar at the top. You can do this at any time when you’re building your page.
   
   

5. In the Send link box, enter the name, group or email address of the people you want to share this private draft with, optionally enter a message, and select Send or Copy link.
   
   

6. Start or continue adding content. You can save as draft as often as you need.

7. When you're ready for everyone who has access to the site see the page or news post, select Publish or Post news.
    

   Notes: 

   • Just like non-private pages and news posts, only one person at a time can edit the draft.

   • Once a page or news post is published, it cannot be made private.

   • Page authors can grant edit access to private drafts, but not read-only access.

   • When a private draft is shared, images and files used on the page and that are stored in the page assets folder are also shared. The page assets folder can be found by navigating to Site contents > Site assets > SitePages. Any assets outside of the site are not shared.

   • If your collaborators did not have access to the page or post before you shared it with them, they will no longer be able to view the page when it is published unless you add them as members to your site.

   • The private draft feature is not available when the Pages library for the site has approvals enabled and the Draft Item Security is set to Only users who can approve items (and the author of the item). Page approvals and Draft Item Security settings can be found on the Versioning Settings page by going to the Pages library of the site and then going to Settings > Library settings > Versioning Settings.

   • The private draft feature requires minor (draft) versions and will only be available if the Document Version History is configured to create major and minor draft versions. This change can be made by going to Settings > Library Settings > Versioning Settings > Create major and minor draft versions. 

   • If you want to translate your private draft into multiple languages, be aware that the copies of pages for translation will also be private. As a result, translators will not be able to access the page unless you invite them as collaborators. Additionally, email notifications will not be sent when a private draft is created or updated.