Keeping a memory to yourself until it's ready

Some memories take a few sittings. Some you want to read back before anyone else does. Beside Save memory there is a second choice: Keep to myself for now.

What it does

The memory is saved, but it isn't on the page. Only you can see it — not the other contributors, not the people who look after the page, not the person it's about. It doesn't count as a memory, doesn't appear in anyone's search, can't be pinned, shared or put in a collection, and nobody is told it exists.

Your kept memories sit in a strip of their own at the top of the page's Memories, marked Kept to yourself, for your eyes only. Open one to keep writing, add photos, or change your mind.

Adding it to the page

When it's ready, Add to page — on the memory or in its editor. It then lands exactly where it would have if you'd saved it the first time: on the page at once if you look after it, or waiting for a manager if the page reads contributors' memories first. That is the moment the page hears of it, and the day it was added.

You can name the people in its photos while it's kept — those names wait with it, and reach the page when the memory does. What others remember waits until then.

Things to know

• It's one way. Once a memory is on the page, the way back is to edit it or delete it — hearts and names may already be on it.
• A memory kept to yourself never becomes anyone else's: if you leave a page, or your account is closed and a page passes to a trusted person, your kept memories go with you.
• It's yours to keep as long as you like. A memory you never add is simply a private one.
• Under a parent's wing: a young person can keep a memory to themselves on their own page; on someone else's page the parent sees everything first, so there's nothing to keep back.

There's no "publish on a date". A letter that opens on a day is a letter for later.