Members in Publi: private publishing for the right readers
Publish securely to members, customers or employees—and manage their access in the same place you manage the publication.
The publication is ready. The member list is somewhere else.
It may live in an association database, a customer platform or a spreadsheet maintained by another team. Someone exports a list, someone else distributes the link and the publication goes out.
Then the list changes.
A new member needs access. An employee leaves. A customer changes their email address. A link is forwarded beyond the audience it was intended for. The publication team has to work out who should still be able to read, whether the latest list has been applied and what to do when someone cannot remember a password created months ago.
The content may be digital, but controlling access to it can still become a manual process spread across several systems.
Publishers should not have to choose between an open link and a separate member portal. They need a straightforward way to protect a publication, give approved readers an easy way in and keep access current as the audience changes.
That is why we built Members in Publi.
Private publishing, connected to the audience
Members gives publication teams a simple way to control and manage access to private digital publications.
It brings the publication, its approved audience and the reader sign-in experience into one connected workflow. Teams can add readers individually, import an existing list or allow trusted email domains. Readers verify their identity by email without creating another password. When access changes, the team can update it directly in Publi.
Members is designed for publishers serving an audience they already know: an association distributing its member magazine, a business sharing a report with customers, an organization publishing internally or an editorial team creating a private edition for a selected community.
Not every publication should travel as far as its link
Some publications contain member benefits. Others hold customer information, internal updates or research intended for a particular professional community. The reading experience should still feel open and inviting to the right person, even when the publication itself is private.
Members separates those two concerns. The publication team decides who can enter; approved readers get a simple route to the content. There is no shared password to circulate and no second publishing system to maintain.
Four parts of private publishing, kept together
Choose the boundary, bring in the audience, verify the reader and keep access current.
Choose how the publication should be shared
Set the publication to Public, Unlisted or Membership, depending on the audience it needs to reach.
Public publications are available to everyone. Unlisted publications can be shared directly and will not be indexed by search engines. Membership adds verified reader access for content that should only be available to an approved audience.
For a members-only publication, the team can keep registration restricted to its allowlist or open registration to a broader audience. That decision stays with the publication instead of being buried in a separate authentication tool.
Bring the audience into Publi
Add an individual email address when access is personal. Add a trusted email domain when everyone in an organization should be able to register. Import a CSV when the audience already exists elsewhere.
Imports can add new members. In replacement mode, they can also update existing records and remove people who are no longer included. Repeat imports give teams a practical way to keep Publi aligned with records maintained by a membership, customer or employee system.
The member list can be searched and sorted by email, name, status, date added, first login or most recent login. Teams can edit member details or export records when the data needs to move into another workflow.
Give readers a passwordless way in
When a reader opens a protected publication, they enter their email address to continue.
For a restricted publication, Publi checks whether the address or its email domain is allowed. Publi then verifies the reader’s identity using either a six-digit code or a secure magic link sent by email. There is no password to create, remember or reset.
Once verified, the reader moves directly into the publication. The access step stays focused on the content they came to read rather than turning into a separate account-management journey.
Keep access current
Membership lists change after publication, and access needs to change with them.
From the member list, the team can correct a name or email address, revoke access temporarily, restore it later or remove the member permanently. Bulk selection makes it possible to export or remove several member records together.
Revoking or removing a member also ends their existing publication sessions. The decision takes effect immediately rather than waiting for an earlier session to expire.
See whether members have made it inside
Distribution does not end when the email or link is sent.
Publi records when a member first signs in and when they were most recently seen. That gives the publication team a clear answer to a basic but important question: has this person successfully accessed the publication?
It is a focused view of member access—not a claim about how much of the publication someone has read. The team can identify readers who have never signed in, confirm recent access and resolve delivery questions using the same member record that controls entry.
Keep the publication at the center
Members lives inside the publication workflow in Publi.
Editors continue to create and publish as they do today. Audience managers maintain the people who should have access. Readers receive a direct, passwordless entrance to the finished publication.
The publication remains the center of the experience. Membership is there to protect the boundary around it, not to become another destination the reader or publishing team has to manage.
Private when it needs to be. Effortless for the people invited in.
A private publication should give the publisher confidence about who can enter and give the reader a clear path to the content waiting for them.
Members connects those needs in Publi: controlled distribution for the team, straightforward access for the audience and one current view of the people the publication is meant to serve.
Members is now available in Publi.
Talk to our team