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Share a notebook

You can share a notebook you've created with other users in the same way as any other item. By default, your notebook is only accessible to you; it does not appear in other users' search results and is not part of any group. Depending on your sharing privileges, you can share it with others.

Note:

When you share a notebook with others, they can open and run the notebook. However, any changes they make to the notebook will be saved as a new copy that they will own. The changes they make are not saved to your notebook.

You have the following options for sharing notebooks:
  • Everyone—Sharing with everyone makes your notebook public; anybody who has access to the organization website can find and use it, and group owners can include it in their group content.
  • Your organization—To ensure only members (named users) of your portal have access to your notebook, you can share it with only named users in your organization.
  • Groups—If you are a member of a group, you can share your notebook with that group. Sharing with specific groups restricts access to a smaller, focused set of people. This is the best option for sharing securely.
  • Everyone and a group—If you want to share your notebook with a subset of users or organize your content into a collection of items, but you also want everyone to have access to your item, you can share an item with a group and with everyone. This is appropriate for focused group work where all members benefit from specific content they can use for collaboration and exchange.
  • Groups and your organization or everyone—You can share a notebook with a larger audience (everyone or your organization) and also share it with a specific group. This allows you to categorize your notebook as relevant to a particular group while still making it available to others in your organization.

You can update a notebook's sharing settings from the Content page or from the notebook editor itself. Both open the Share dialog box for the item, where you set and save setting options.

Prepare your notebook to be shared

Before you share a notebook, ensure the notebook can be opened and run successfully by others while preserving the integrity, security, and accessibility of your notebook.

  • Avoid storing user names, passwords, credentials, or any other personal information in a notebook. Sharing a notebook with this content will expose it to others.
  • Any item you have added into your notebook must also be shared with a member for that member to be able to view and use it in the notebook. Check the sharing properties for each item in your notebook before sharing the notebook.
  • You can use files from your user workspace in your notebooks. However, if you intend to share a notebook with others in your organization, upload the files to My Content, and then add those items into your notebook. Share them with the members who will be viewing your notebook.
  • If your notebook uses the Advanced notebook runtime, only users with the Advanced Notebook privilege will be able to open and run the notebook when it is shared with them. See Specify the runtime of a notebook for steps on how to change the runtime.

Share a notebook from the Content page

To share a notebook from Content, complete the following steps:

  1. On the Content page, on the My Content tab, locate the notebook item you want to share and click its sharing button, which, by default, is a lock icon.
  2. On the notebook's item page, click the Share button.

    The dialog box displays the levels at which you can share the item, including each of the groups in your organization.

  3. Choose how you want to share the notebook.
  4. Click OK.

Share a notebook from the workspace

You can also access the Share dialog box from the notebook workspace.

  1. On the action ribbon, click the Share button.

    The Share Notebook panel appears, displaying the notebook's current sharing settings.

  2. Click the Share button on the panel to open the dialog box.
  3. Change the settings as desired.
  4. Click OK.

    Your new sharing settings are shown in the panel.

Work on a shared notebook

When an organization member opens a notebook that has been shared with them by another member, a copy of that notebook is created and then opened. The member with whom the notebook was shared is the owner of this new notebook copy; it runs in their own container and uses their own processing resources. Any changes they make to the notebook are only made in the new notebook copy.

You can search your organization's content to find a shared notebook, or access the notebook item from the group with which it is shared. Preview the notebook to view its content, and open the notebook from its item details page.

Ensure you only open shared notebooks from sources you trust. Any code you run in a shared notebook is run on your behalf, using your credentials. It's a best practice to review all cells in a shared notebook individually before running them, and to not use the Run All option when first opening a shared notebook.

Notebooks shared with you may reference files you do not have access to—they may be from items that haven't been shared with you, or may reside in the author's own user workspace. Contact the author if you receive any such errors.