Is there a way to make Live Docs open in view mode by default?

Question

When someone shares a Live Doc with me, it opens in edit mode, even though I'm not the owner and just want to read it. I've checked my settings and can't find an option to change this.

Am I missing something? If not, is a user preference for this on the roadmap? I read Confluence pages more than I edit them, and manually switching to view mode every time is frustrating UX.

Tomislav Tobijas · Answer

Hi @Steve ,

There's a feature request related to what you're looking for: CONFCLOUD-83456: Add an option to turn the "Switch to Viewing" mode on by default for Live docs

The only workaround would be to add content restrictions 🔒 so only specific people or groups have edit permission, which would result in everyone else landing on live doc view mode.

To sum it up - you cannot change the behavior of this just yet.

Cheers,
Tobi

Barbara Szczesniak · Answer

I'm sorry, @Steve  I never noticed that option or heard mention of it. I would guess that there is no way to change it to be a personal default; I don't see anything in my personal Confluence settings for this.

Perhaps someone else will chime in with a more definitive answer.

Steve_vzj6xe · Answer

@Barbara Szczesniak That's not quite right. There is a view mode for Live Docs, even with edit access. Under More actions there's a "Switch to viewing" option, which I use manually whenever I open one. The mode already exists, I'd just like a way to set it as my default rather than toggling every time.