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+# Public access
+
+GitLab allows you to change your projects' visibility in order be accessed
+**publicly** or **internally**.
+
+Projects with either of these visibility levels will be listed in the
+public access directory (`/public` under your GitLab instance).
+Here is the [GitLab.com example](https://gitlab.com/public).
+
+Internal projects will only be available to authenticated users.
+
+## Visibility of projects
+
+### Public projects
+
+Public projects can be cloned **without any** authentication.
+
+They will also be listed on the public access directory (`/public`).
+
+**Any logged in user** will have [Guest](../permissions/permissions)
+permissions on the repository.
+
+### Internal projects
+
+Internal projects can be cloned by any logged in user.
+
+They will also be listed on the public access directory (`/public`) for logged
+in users.
+
+Any logged in user will have [Guest](../permissions/permissions) permissions on
+the repository.
+
+### How to change project visibility
+
+1. Go to your project's **Settings**
+1. Change "Visibility Level" to either Public, Internal or Private
+
+## Visibility of groups
+
+>**Note:**
+[Starting with][3323] GitLab 8.6, the group visibility has changed and can be
+configured the same way as projects. In previous versions, a group's page was
+always visible to all users.
+
+Like with projects, the visibility of a group can be set to dictate whether
+anonymous users, all signed in users, or only explicit group members can view
+it. The restriction for visibility levels on the application setting level also
+applies to groups, so if that's set to internal, the explore page will be empty
+for anonymous users. The group page now has a visibility level icon.
+
+[3323]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/3323
+
+## Visibility of users
+
+The public page of a user, located at `/u/username`, is always visible whether
+you are logged in or not.
+
+When visiting the public page of a user, you can only see the projects which
+you are privileged to.
+
+If the public level is restricted, user profiles are only visible to logged in users.
+
+
+## Restricting the use of public or internal projects
+
+In the Admin area under **Settings** (`/admin/application_settings`), you can
+restrict the use of visibility levels for users when they create a project or a
+snippet. This is useful to prevent people exposing their repositories to public
+by accident. The restricted visibility settings do not apply to admin users.