> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.zarms.cloud/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Why boards can't be private

> Every member except guests can see every ZARMS board. This follows from the idea that work inside a company should be open, and from a design built on shared folders. How to limit what someone can see.

ZARMS boards have no "private" or "only some members can see this" setting. Every member except guests can see every board and card in the team. Cards on **My Board** are visible too.

## Work inside a company should be open

ZARMS believes that work inside a company should be visible to everyone by default.

ZARMS is designed for small to mid-sized organizations. Picture about 20 people working together in one office. Offices used to have a whiteboard or blackboard on the wall, and everyone could see who was doing what. There was no whiteboard that only one department could read.

When you can see other people's work, you notice where you can help. You can also learn from how others handle similar work.

## Why there are no personal-only cards

ZARMS cards are meant to involve a Creator, Processor, Reviewer, and Receiver, with deliverables stored in a shared folder. A card that works as a private note only you read doesn't fit that. That's also why cards on **My Board** are visible to other members.

Keep private notes in your own note-taking app.

## Consistent with how your folders are shared

When you create a team, ZARMS creates a folder inside your team's shared folder (such as a shared drive). A shared folder usually includes everyone in the department or team. If the files are already shared with everyone, fine-grained visibility inside ZARMS adds little.

The same idea is behind the flat rate per team with no per-user fee. You don't need to limit who can see things to save money, so you can bring in everyone involved in the work (the user limit depends on your plan; see [Plans and trial](https://help.zarms.cloud/en/billing/plans.md)).

## When you need to limit what someone sees

If someone, such as an outside partner, should only work on some boards, invite them as a **Guest**. Guests see only the boards an admin chooses and the cards on them. They can't see the directory or groups.

→ [Show guests only some boards](https://help.zarms.cloud/en/team/guests.md)

If your organization really needs to keep some information separate internally, use separate teams. Each team has its own members, boards, and folders.

## Related articles

* [How ZARMS thinks about work](https://help.zarms.cloud/en/concepts/philosophy.md)
* [Roles and what they can do](https://help.zarms.cloud/en/team/roles.md)


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