How do I make all my posts private?

For future entries

On the "Privacy" tab of your Manage Account Settings page there is an option called Minimum Entry Security. This setting allows you to choose the security setting all future entries will be posted with. You can choose from:

• Everyone (Public): anyone, whether they have a Dreamwidth account or not, can see your entries
  
• Access list: only your access list can see your entries
  
• Private (Just You): only you can see your entries

You can change your minimum entry security at any time, but whatever you select here will only affect your future posts, not any of your past ones.

If you want to post an entry with a higher security level than your minimum, use the options on the Post an Entry page (see How do I control who can read my entries? for details). You can't post entries with a less restrictive security than your minimum level, so if your minimum entry security is Private, you won't be able to post any locked or public entries directly from the Post an Entry page. You'll need to either lower your minimum security level, or post the entry and then edit the entry to change the security level after you post it.

For existing entries

If you have a Paid, Premium Paid, or Seed account, you can use the Edit Journal Privacy tool. This will allow you to change the privacy level of all entries made during a specific period by choosing the start and end date of the period you want to change, or all past entries by choosing "All Dates". You can also specify that only entries of a certain privacy level should be changed: for example, you might want to change your locked entries to public ones, while leaving your private entries alone, or change your locked entries to private ones while leaving your public entries alone.

The Edit Journal Privacy tool only works for your entries in your journal. To change the privacy of your entries in communities, you can find your entries in the community and edit them directly.

This tool is restricted to paid accounts only because of the load it places on our servers. If you don't have a paid account, you might be able to mass-edit your security settings by using a downloadable client. You should consult the individual client's documentation to find out what abilities it has and who you should contact for help. You can also directly edit each entry by hand to change the security.