(Archived) Multiple users, 1 account

[cnaylor 0]

Is it possible to have 1 account and multiple users?

E.g. if everyone in the office was able to save articles etc to the one account, so that everyone can search the one account. So that evernote becomes a research findings hub.

Thanks!

[Metrodon 2,184]

It's possible, but a really bad idea and not recommended. You will end up with sync conflicts and a lot of confusion.

[cnaylor 0]

Thanks Metrodon.

Do you know if Evernote is setup for something like this? What would be the best way to achieve the same outcome?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Do you know if Evernote is setup for something like this? What would be the best way to achieve the same outcome?

As one would have surmised from Metrodon's reply, no, Evernote is not really set up for collaboration. It shines as a personal information manager (PIM) across various platforms. You would probably want to look at something designed for collaboration.

[Jamie Whitehorn 1]

E.g. if everyone in the office was able to save articles etc to the one account, so that everyone can search the one account. So that evernote becomes a research findings hub.

I think that is what Evernote Business https://evernote.com/business/features/ is aimed at doing.

[Metrodon 2,184]

It's not really, Evernote will still require each user to have an account rather than sharing a single one.

Business will provide simplified billing etc and ownership of notebooks will reside with the business owner (as opposed to the individual). I haven't seen anything that indicates that the sharing and collaboration functionality is improving in any significant fashion.

[Jamie Whitehorn 1]

http://evernote.com/business/features/

Company-Wide Directory

Publish and share content into a directory that can be viewed by everyone in your business

I assumed if it was visible to everyone it would be searchable by everyone.

[Metrodon 2,184]

Publish and share - but not add to or edit.

[jbenson2 2,147]

It's not really, Evernote will still require each user to have an account rather than sharing a single one.

Business will provide simplified billing etc and ownership of notebooks will reside with the business owner (as opposed to the individual). I haven't seen anything that indicates that the sharing and collaboration functionality is improving in any significant fashion.

I hope Evernote include a clearly-understood message about what the new business version can and cannot do.

If they are not clear, this forum is going to be swamped with a slew of collaboration questions, requests and demands.

(even with the "Dedicated Customer Success Managers")

[Ever4every1 0]

It's possible, but a really bad idea and not recommended. You will end up with sync conflicts and a lot of confusion.

Rarely do multiple users cause much in the way of sync errors. Especially in the way described in the Question here. If multiple people are adding content, there is nothing to conflict. If everyone is trying to work on the SAME EXACT note and the SAME EXACT time, then you can run into conflicts.

I know of an Evernote database with over 10,000 Notes that is used as a collaborative memory for a dozen or more users. The one MAJOR thing to consider is that you have to have faith in the other users. There is no way to keep different users from different privileges. ALL are on the same login/password so you must FULLY trust everyone. Evernote is not going to be able to assist you with errors caused by one user that affects the other. AS far as Evernote is concerned, you are all ONE USER that is "unwisely" sharing your password with others. DEFINITELY, DO NOT PUT CONFIDENTIAL INFO IN SUCH AN ACCOUNT.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

It's possible, but a really bad idea and not recommended. You will end up with sync conflicts and a lot of confusion.

Rarely do multiple users cause much in the way of sync errors.

First, multiple users & even single users can cause sync CONFLICTS and often do, when they don't fully understand how EN works.

If multiple people are adding content, there is nothing to conflict.

The one MAJOR thing to consider is that you have to have faith in the other users. There is no way to keep different users from different privileges. ALL are on the same login/password so you must FULLY trust everyone.

That part is true. But that is several big "if"s & is exactly why Metrodon said it's not recommended. If it works for you & you fully understand the risks, which it sounds like you do, then great. But again, it's not something that most of us would recommend. Personally, if the database were very large & very important, I'd never share the login credentials with many (any?) people. All it takes is one person who's mad about something to delete all the notes & sync. Even if you have a backup of your database, it's going to be a PITA to get everything restored & uploaded again. When notes are deleted & sync'd, it's not as easy as simply restoring from a backup & sync'ing. In that case, each note needs to be assigned a new GUI (globally unique identifier). It's not a necessarily difficult task (restore from the latest backup/move all notes from sync'd notebooks to local notebooks/sync/move all notes back to sync'd notebooks/sync). And you may exceed your upload limit, depending upon the size of your database & have to wait until your cycle refreshes one or more times to get everything back up in the cloud. But this is certainly something I'd prefer to not have to spend time doing. JMO. YMMV.