I created a post on my personal Facebook profile that I really want friends and coworkers to share, but no one can see the share button. I’ve checked my settings a few times and I’m still confused about what privacy options or page/profile settings I need to change so the post becomes shareable publicly. Can someone walk me through exactly what to do so others can share this post on their timelines?
This trips a lot of people up. The share button on your post depends on the privacy setting of that specific post, not only your account settings.
Do this on the post you want people to share:
- On your profile, find the post.
- On the post, tap the little audience icon next to the date/time.
• It looks like a globe (Public), two heads (Friends), gear (Custom), or lock (Only me). - Tap “Edit audience”.
- Select “Public”.
- Save.
Once the audience is Public, people see “Share” under the post, including friends of friends, coworkers, and anyone who can view your profile.
A few extra checks:
• If you originally shared someone else’s content and their post is not Public, your re-share will not show a full share option to others. They must set theirs to Public first.
• If you posted in a private group, no way to make that shareable outside the group. You need to repost the content on your own profile as Public.
• On mobile app, sometimes it shows “Edit privacy” instead of “Edit audience”. Same idea.
• If you use the “Friends except…” or “Specific friends” options, the share button usually disappears for most people.
If none of that works, delete that post and create a new one with Public set before you publish:
On the composer screen before posting:
• Tap the audience selector under your name.
• Choose Public.
• Then post.
Facebook remembers your last audience, so once you set one post to Public, the next ones often default to the same setting.
Couple more things to check that people usually miss, on top of what @nachtschatten already explained:
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Check your overall default privacy
Go to Settings & privacy → Settings → Audience and visibility → Posts.
Make sure “Who can see your future posts?” is not stuck on “Friends” or some custom list. If it is, every time you forget to change it to Public, the share button issue comes back. -
Look for “Limited profile / Restricted” stuff
If you’ve put coworkers on the “Restricted” list, they might only see public posts. If the post is not actually Public, it may show weird or not show a normal share option. Either remove them from Restricted or make that post truly Public. -
Check if it’s a “friends-only” attachment
If you used:- A photo album that was originally created as “Friends”
- A video that came from an older “Friends” post
…the post’s audience can say Public but the media itself is still limited. That can hide or cripple the share option. Try re-uploading the picture/video in a fresh post set to Public.
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Age/location locks on content
If your post has something like an age restriction, country restriction, or you used “Social search / audience restrictions” in the past, those can block sharing to some people even if you think it’s Public. Check under “Edit audience” or “Edit post” for any extra restrictions and clear them. -
Events and private stuff can’t be made magic‑public
If you’re sharing:- A private or “Friends” event
- A post from a closed group
your own post is chained to that privacy. You have to create a separate Public post with the info (like a new text + image) instead of relying on the original share.
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Try from a different account / browser
Log in from another account (friend, partner, or a test account if you have one) and check that specific post. Sometimes you think it’s Public because of the icon, but from the outside it’s still restricted. If they don’t see “Share,” something is still off in the audience or source content. -
Recreate it like a “clean” post
If you’ve edited the audience on the same post multiple times, Facebook sometimes acts glitchy. Just copy the text, save any media, delete the old post, then:- Start a new post
- Set audience to Public first
- Then paste text/upload stuff
That tends to fix stubborn share issues.
TL;DR:
Public icon alone isn’t always the whole story. Check default post settings, any restricted lists, the original media’s privacy, and whether you’re re-sharing content that isn’t Public at the source. If in doubt, remake the post from scratch as Public and test with another account.
Couple of extra angles that often get missed, even after you’ve set the post itself to Public like @mike34 and @nachtschatten explained:
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Check if it is actually a “story‑type” post
Stories and some temporary formats don’t give the classic “Share” button on the post at all. People can reply or react, not share it to their own feeds. If what you created was a Story or a “temporary” post format, you will need to recreate it as a normal feed post with Public visibility. -
Look at who you tagged
If you tagged people or pages that have strict privacy or country restrictions, Facebook sometimes tightens the share options silently. Quick test:- Edit the post, remove all tags.
- Confirm it’s Public.
- Save and check from another account if “Share” appears.
If that fixes it, re‑add only essential tags or leave them off.
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Avoid mixing old restricted objects
This is different from just media privacy: if you used:- An old “Check in” location that has limited visibility
- A tag of an event that is private
even if your post looks Public, it behaves half‑private. I’d recreate the post with a plain location (or none) and describe the event in text instead of tagging it.
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Mind “Timeline & tagging” settings
Go to Settings → Profile & Tagging and look at:- “Who can see what others post on your profile”
- “Review posts you’re tagged in before the post appears on your profile”
If you heavily restricted visibility here, people viewing from your profile may not get a proper share button, especially when your post interacts with tags. Relax those settings temporarily to test.
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Confirm from a logged‑out view
Use another browser or incognito window and open your profile link while logged out. Scroll to that post.- If you cannot even see the post logged out, it is not fully Public.
- If you see it but no share controls at all, it might be a format (like certain reels or crossposts) that only supports limited sharing, not the classic “Share to feed” button.
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Watch out for “professional mode” quirks
If your personal profile is in professional mode, some posts behave more like creator content. In that case, use the standard “Create post” option from your main profile, confirm it shows “Public” beside your name before posting, and avoid experimental formats (crossposted Reels, collaborative posts) if you want a clean, shareable item. -
In some cases, cloning beats editing
If you changed the audience on that same post many times, I would not waste much more time on it. Copy your text, download any media, then:- Delete the old post
- Create a brand new feed post
- Set audience to Public before typing anything
- Paste your text, upload media, post, then verify from a second account
Pros of doing a fresh, clean Public post:
- Highest chance the “Share” button appears for everyone
- Less tangled with old privacy artifacts (tags, media origins, events)
- Facebook tends to keep that “Public” setting for future posts
Cons:
- You lose existing reactions and comments on the old post
- You need to re‑tag people or pages manually
- If coworkers already interacted, you may have to nudge them again
Compared with what @mike34 and @nachtschatten suggested, the main difference here is focusing on hidden constraints like tags, events, locations, story formats and professional mode. Their steps are spot on for audience basics, but when everything looks right and the share button is still missing, it is usually one of those invisible attachments or a weird post type that is blocking you.