Microsoft's OneNote is a full-featured digital note-taking app which allows you to organize your notes and sync them across devices. You can also share your notes with others, which greatly facilitates collaboration. Read on to find out what exactly you can share and how to do it.

Granting access to your notebooks

Because all of your OneNote data is stored on the cloud via OneDrive rather than on your personal device, you can share your notebooks with others and manage what type of access they have at any time. Other OneNote users will then be able to open your notebooks and even make changes, if you allow it.

You can specify the type of access

All of your OneNote information is organized into notebooks, and you can choose to share an individual notebook with others. You can give them view access if you only want them to be able to read your notes, or you can give them edit access if they are allowed to change them as well.

You can restrict who has access

When you share a notebook, there are three levels of access you can grant, listed from more strict to less strict:

• You can give access to specific people only.
• You can limit access to anyone in your organization (available in the browser-based app only).
• You can allow anyone who has a copy of the link to access the Notebook.

You are able to specify the type of access for each of these groups as well. For example, you could give view access to anyone with the link, but allow anyone in your organization to edit the document.

How to share access

There are slightly different methods for sharing access to your notes depending on the level of access you'd like to provide, as well as which device you are using for OneNote. The browser version gives a bit more control over your access settings, but the computer and smartphone app versions will allow you to do the basic sharing tasks.

Invite specific collaborators

To share a notebook with specific people, follow these steps:

1. In OneNote, open the notebook that you wish to share.
2. On the desktop or browser-based version, click on the purple Share button/icon at the top right. On the smartphone app, click on the three dots at the top right and then Share Notebook.
3. Click on Invite People to Notebook (app version) or Share Entire Notebook (browser version).
4. In the pop-up window, type the email addresses of the people you'd like to invite. If you authorize access to your contact list, you can also type a name and a list of matching contacts will appear for you to choose from.
5. If you'd like the invited people to be able to be able to make changes to the notebook, be sure to check the box for Can Edit. Otherwise, be sure it is unchecked.
6. Click on the Share button to grant access. A notification will be sent by email to the addresses you added.

Send a direct link

If you don't want to add specific email addresses to your access list, you can also share access by copying a link to the notebook and sharing it directly. Follow these steps:

1. In OneNote, open the notebook that you wish to share.
2. On the desktop or browser-based version, click on the purple Share button at the top right. On the smartphone app, click on the three dots at the top right and then Share Notebook.
3. Click on Copy Link to Notebook.
4. Select whether you'd like the link to have view access only or if the link enables the viewer to make changes by choosing View-Only or View and Edit.
5. A pop-up window will appear with a link to your notebook. You can copy this link to your clipboard and then paste it into another app or message to share it.

Manage access

On the browser-based version of OneNote, you have additional control over the type of access you grant and how long it lasts. This can be useful to review exactly who has access to a given notebook and make changes to that access if needed. Follow these steps:

1. Login to OneNote via a web browser at www.onenote.com.
2. Navigate to the notebook you'd like to manage access for.
3. Click on the purple Share button at the top right.
4. Click on Manage Access.
5. A pop-up window will allow you to update your access list. You can also see the share links that have been created previously and copy them, delete them, or set an expiration date for access permission.

Share a snapshot instead

If you'd prefer to just give someone a copy of your notes instead of inviting them to view your notebook directly, you can send a static copy of any page. The advantage to this method is that you can share only the specific page rather than the entire notebook. The drawback is that they are receiving a "moment in time" snapshot of the page and will not see any changes that are made after you send it. People who have access via a link, on the other hand, will always see the most current version of the page.

Desktop instructions for sending a snapshot

To share a copy of a single page from the desktop app, follow these steps:

1. In OneNote, open the notebook and navigate to the page you wish to share.
2. On the desktop or browser-based version, click on the purple Share button at the top right. On the smartphone app, click on the three dots at the top right.
3. Click on Send Copy of Page.
4. Select whether you'd like to send the link as a PDF attachment or as text in an email.
5. A pop-up window will appear with a link to your notebook. You can either copy the link to paste into another app or message, or you can click on Email link to open your default email app and send it that way.

Smartphone instructions for sending a snapshot

Sharing a page via the smartphone version of OneNote is slightly different. Follow these steps:

1. In OneNote, open the notebook and navigate to the page you wish to share.
2. Click on the three dots at the top right and then Send Copy of Page.
3. You can either choose to send the link via email with Outlook, or you can select to send it via another app such as text messaging. Either way, the snapshot will be sent as a PDF attachment.

OneNote is even more powerful with collaborators

Whether you'd like to invite people to edit a notebook or you'd just like to send a snapshot of your work in progress, OneNote offers you multiple ways to share access with others. Now you know exactly how to invite collaborators or send links to your current notes, depending on your needs.