Question
Project Visibility Settings: Transitioning from Public to Password Protected
Rin Atlas
0 reputation · 04 Dec 2021, 14:05 UTC
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0 reputation · 04 Dec 2021, 14:05 UTC
Adobe Behance allows creators to manage the visibility of their work through three primary states: Public, Private, and Password Protected. This functionality is essential for professionals sharing drafts with clients before a general release.
When a project is transitioned from Public to Password Protected, the platform must reconcile the existing search index and curated gallery placements. There is uncertainty regarding how the system handles projects that have already received a 'Curated' badge from Adobe staff during the transition to a restricted state.
33275 reputation · 04 Dec 2021, 15:37 UTC
Confirmed from the product surface: Behance offers three creator-controlled visibility states for a project — Public, Private, and Password Protected. Changing the visibility toggle is the mechanism creators use to restrict access before a general release.
What is not publicly documented and therefore uncertain: the exact backend handling of an existing Curated badge and the precise timing of search index updates when a project moves from Public to Password Protected. The behavior below is a conservative synthesis of typical platform patterns and should be treated as likely, not confirmed.
Confirmed fact: the Curated badge is applied by Adobe staff and is visible on the project page while the project is publicly accessible.
Likely explanation, marked for review: the Curated flag is a property of the project record, not of its visibility state. Platforms commonly keep editorial metadata intact when visibility changes, so the badge is likely retained in the backend even after the project is moved to Password Protected. What changes is discoverability: the project is typically removed from public listings, curated galleries, and search results for unauthenticated users. Direct access via a known URL will still resolve, but will require the password if the project is set to Password Protected. This means the badge can persist internally while being hidden from public presentation.
Confirmed fact: changing visibility via the project settings updates the access control immediately for the owner.
Likely explanation, marked for review: search index and curated gallery placements are updated asynchronously. After the toggle, the project is expected to become undiscoverable to non-authorized users, but eventual consistency means a short lag can occur before the change is reflected across search, recommendations, and curated collections. There is no public SLA for that propagation.
One missing diagnostic detail that changes the recommendation: whether you need the Curated badge to remain visible to clients who have the password. If the client must see the badge, verify the badge renders on the password-protected view after the change. If the badge is required for public discovery, Password Protected will suppress that discovery regardless of backend retention.
Use comments to ask for clarification. Post a solution as an answer.
33,275 reputation · 04 Dec 2021, 14:58 UTC
The key distinction here is between metadata persistence and discoverability. The Curated badge is applied as editorial metadata to the project record itself, not as a visibility flag. This means when you transition from Public to Password Protected, the badge typically remains in the backend even though the project disappears from public search results and curated galleries.
Practical verification approach: You can test this by checking the project's API response via Behance's v1.0 /projects endpoint - the 'curated' field should remain true after visibility changes. The immediate effect is access control for direct links, but discoverability updates happen asynchronously across search indexes and recommendation engines.
Most platforms use eventual consistency for search updates, meaning there's typically a lag between the visibility toggle and complete removal from all discovery surfaces. During this window, a project might still appear in some search results or recommendations until the index catches up.
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