Why are my notes published as public share?

[lannyr 1]

To my horror I just notices that all my notes are marked as publicly shared. I never set up this "feature" and do not want it. As a temporary fix, I deleted all my notes after exporting them. My questions are:

1) How do I setup a default for "Not sharing"

2) Are the deleted notes (emptied trash) really deleted?

3) Can I import my deleted notes as non-shared

 

[C6REW 416]

Hi Lannyr,

 

Can you explain how you found out your Notes are marked publicly shared?

 

Best regards

 

Chris

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

To my horror I just notices that all my notes are marked as publicly shared. I never set up this "feature" and do not want it. As a temporary fix, I deleted all my notes after exporting them. My questions are:

1) How do I setup a default for "Not sharing"

2) Are the deleted notes (emptied trash) really deleted?

3) Can I import my deleted notes as non-shared

 

Hi. It's not even Halloween yet and you've had a scary experience! LOL. OK. It's not so funny.

 

How could this have happened? I can imagine some scenarios. The iPad note link feature, for example, is pretty confusing, and it looks like a lot of people are creating publicly shared links mistakenly thinking that they are internal links. Fortunately, as far as I know, it is pretty unlikely anyone will guess the address of the notes. Still, I wouldn't recommend it. 

 

1. The default is not to share. You'll have to let us know more about your workflow before we can figure out what is happening.

2. Deleted notes go to the trash. You have to empty the notes to completely delete them from your account. 

3. No. One solution if you have a lot of notes is to export your notes and then re-import them. Alternatively, you could probably move them to a local notebook on the desktop and move them back to get rid of the sharing. It's a pretty painless process, though you will have to re-sync / re-upload everything. if you want to know where the shared notes are, search for sharedate:* 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

To my horror I just notices that all my notes are marked as publicly shared. I never set up this "feature" and do not want it. As a temporary fix, I deleted all my notes after exporting them. My questions are:

1) How do I setup a default for "Not sharing"

2) Are the deleted notes (emptied trash) really deleted?

3) Can I import my deleted notes as non-shared

Sounds like you shared a notebook with someone. As GM said, the default is not shared.

[lannyr 1]

Hi Lannyr,

 

Can you explain how you found out your Notes are marked publicly shared?

 

Best regards

 

Chris

It says so in the note header

[lannyr 1]

To my horror I just notices that all my notes are marked as publicly shared. I never set up this "feature" and do not want it. As a temporary fix, I deleted all my notes after exporting them. My questions are:

1) How do I setup a default for "Not sharing"

2) Are the deleted notes (emptied trash) really deleted?

3) Can I import my deleted notes as non-shared

 

 

 

To my horror I just notices that all my notes are marked as publicly shared. I never set up this "feature" and do not want it. As a temporary fix, I deleted all my notes after exporting them. My questions are:

1) How do I setup a default for "Not sharing"

2) Are the deleted notes (emptied trash) really deleted?

3) Can I import my deleted notes as non-shared

 

Hi. It's not even Halloween yet and you've had a scary experience! LOL. OK. It's not so funny.

 

How could this have happened? I can imagine some scenarios. The iPad note link feature, for example, is pretty confusing, and it looks like a lot of people are creating publicly shared links mistakenly thinking that they are internal links. Fortunately, as far as I know, it is pretty unlikely anyone will guess the address of the notes. Still, I wouldn't recommend it. 

 

1. The default is not to share. You'll have to let us know more about your workflow before we can figure out what is happening.

2. Deleted notes go to the trash. You have to empty the notes to completely delete them from your account. 

3. No. One solution if you have a lot of notes is to export your notes and then re-import them. Alternatively, you could probably move them to a local notebook on the desktop and move them back to get rid of the sharing. It's a pretty painless process, though you will have to re-sync / re-upload everything. if you want to know where the shared notes are, search for sharedate:* 

 

 

1) I did not do anything.  You could perhaps tell me how to check the default.

2) My question was not as regards the current state of the notes in my  account but the deletion of the notes from Evernote - i.e. has Evernote access to my deleted and cleaned for trash notes 

3) Not true - that is why I was asking: Exported notes get imported as shared

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

1) I did not do anything.  You could perhaps tell me how to check the default.

2) My question was not as regards the current state of the notes in my  account but the deletion of the notes from Evernote - i.e. has Evernote access to my deleted and cleaned for trash notes 

3) Not true - that is why I was asking: Exported notes get imported as shared

Regarding #1, there is nothing to check - this is a global default value that is not toggled.  The default is not sharing.  As has been stated above, the user must take specific action to share notes/notebooks. 

 

Regarding #3, this is wrong.  A shared note that is exported to enex & then imported is imported as not shared.

 

It says so in the note header

Please post a screen cap of what you are talking about.  It sounds like you're looking at something & thinking it's indicating the note is shared when it may not be.  As has been repeatedly stated in this thread, notes are NOT shared unless the user intentionally does so either on the specific note or on the notebook.

 

To find what specific notes are shared, use the following search grammar.  This does not appear to display notes that are in a shared notebook.

 

sharedate:*

 

In the Windows V4 version, shared notebooks have a blue icon.  I don't know about the other clients off the top of my head.  But you can determine the sharing parameters of a notebook from the web client by hovering over the notebook name, click the down arrow.  If one of the options is "share this notebook", the notebook is not shared.  If one of the options is "modify sharing", the notebook is shared & you can use this option to revoke sharing.

 

Another test for you is to create a brand new notebook.  Create a brand new note in that notebook.  This note/notebook will not be shared b/c you didn't share it.  If it appears to you that the note is shared, then you are looking at the wrong thing & that's why a screen cap of what you're looking at would be helpful.

[reinhard_seidl2010 0]

I have the same issue - I just updated to Evernote 5 after delaying as long as possible thanks to the many negative posts and reports i'd heard.

I updated because some tags no longer synchronized (they still don't, even after updating).

 

I just created a note for a synchronized (but not shared!) notebook. The new note now says "publicly shared". See attached screenshots. The notebooks is definitely not shared, nor has it ever been.

 

In general, I have to say I agree with most negative posts so far unfortunately. Have been a very enthusiastic Evernote user and in-company evangelist for years. With this latest release, i'm considering switching platforms entirely. We just put our corporate engineering standards into Evernote, but the new interface has taken what were good features (such as the instant ability to see what notebooks are shared and what notebooks are local) and eliminated them - why?? And made all tags visible at all times - why?? We have hundreds of tags in various shared notebooks across the company. It's now almost impossible to see the forest for the trees. The search features have become very confusing and much more complex - why change what wasn't broken? And the whole interface seems to have slowed down a lot.

[reinhard_seidl2010 0]

Update Nov 8 - I have to take back some of my comments.

While not having received any resolution to the synchronization of tags (I had to recreate the assignments for the tag that would not synch), I do now see that

a) typing search terms automatically suggests either tags or previously used terms, and that

searching by tags and typing the start  of the next tag automatically reduces the list of available tags to those that appear in notes matching the first tag. So searches by multiple tags (previously: alt click multiple tags) has become much more efficient, to the point where the left pane can remain hidden entirely.

 

So overall, I think searching has improved for what it's worth.

 

So if someone could now solve the mystery of non-synching tags, that would really make my day.

[awebb1204 0]

I, too, was horrified to find that Evernote tells me my tax document from last year is publically shared. I'm positive I've never done this. Any thoughts on turning this off?

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

It is extraordinarily UNusual that notes are being publicly shared this way. This is not normal behaviour, and not the way Evernotr would want users data to be stored.

For those with this problem, what happens if you:

1- create a new notebook (synchronized, not shared)

2 - in that new notebook, create a new note.

Is that new note shared?

[awebb1204 0]

It is extraordinarily UNusual that notes are being publicly shared this way. This is not normal behaviour, and not the way Evernotr would want users data to be stored.

For those with this problem, what happens if you:

1- create a new notebook (synchronized, not shared)

2 - in that new notebook, create a new note.

Is that new note shared?

Ok, I did as you suggested and touched nothing related to sharing. I created a note like I usually do. I don't notice any sharing language showing up. With my other note, I saved it from an online program into Evernote. Would that have anything to do with the "sharing"? I am going to look at all of my other notes to check.

 

Good Lord, I just noticed that all of my notes in a particular notebook say they are shared including "passwords"!!! How do you turn this off????

 

Further update: I went into settings for one notebook and right clicked. I chose options and made that notebook my default notebook. Going into the notes, I now see the notes aren't shared. However all of the other notebooks aren't share now either.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

If anyone else encounters this, please go to www.evernote.com and see what the status of the notes is there. My guess is that we are seeing a client-side bug in the interface and the notes aren't actually shared. Until someone can check this out for us, could everyone tell us what client they are using? It may be that this is specific to the Windows environment.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

 

It is extraordinarily UNusual that notes are being publicly shared this way. This is not normal behaviour, and not the way Evernotr would want users data to be stored.

For those with this problem, what happens if you:

1- create a new notebook (synchronized, not shared)

2 - in that new notebook, create a new note.

Is that new note shared?

Ok, I did as you suggested and touched nothing related to sharing. I created a note like I usually do. I don't notice any sharing language showing up. With my other note, I saved it from an online program into Evernote. Would that have anything to do with the "sharing"? I am going to look at all of my other notes to check.

 

Good Lord, I just noticed that all of my notes in a particular notebook say they are shared including "passwords"!!! How do you turn this off????

 

Further update: I went into settings for one notebook and right clicked. I chose options and made that notebook my default notebook. Going into the notes, I now see the notes aren't shared. However all of the other notebooks aren't share now either.

 

What "online program" is it that you are using? This could very likely be a part of what you are seeing. 

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

To turn sharing off for a given note, select a note (perhaps starting with that "passwords" note) and click the "Share" button, there should be a "stop sharing" option in the list of options that appears. 

 

 

Also, I recommend a password manager for storing passwords (such as 1Password or LastPass). Storing passwords in Evernote is note necessarily wise. 

[jbenson2 2,147]

If anyone else encounters this, please go to www.evernote.com and see what the status of the notes is there. My guess is that we are seeing a client-side bug in the interface and the notes aren't actually shared. Until someone can check this out for us, could everyone tell us what client they are using? It may be that this is specific to the Windows environment.

 

I've shared 740 notes over the years.

 

If one has been hit by this bug, how does one view the message:

"Last edited by xxxxxx and shared publicly with others"

 

I can't find it in either my Windows client version 5.03 or the Windows web.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

 

If anyone else encounters this, please go to www.evernote.com and see what the status of the notes is there. My guess is that we are seeing a client-side bug in the interface and the notes aren't actually shared. Until someone can check this out for us, could everyone tell us what client they are using? It may be that this is specific to the Windows environment.

 

I've shared 740 notes over the years.

 

If one has been hit by this bug, how does one view the message:

"Last edited by xxxxxx and shared publicly with others"

 

I can't find it in either my Windows client version 5.03 or the Windows web.

 

Good Point. 

 

On my mac, I pulled up all of my publicly shared notes and none of them have any little notice like that (the blue "share arrow" is the only indication that it is publicly shared). 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

 

If anyone else encounters this, please go to www.evernote.com and see what the status of the notes is there. My guess is that we are seeing a client-side bug in the interface and the notes aren't actually shared. Until someone can check this out for us, could everyone tell us what client they are using? It may be that this is specific to the Windows environment.

 

I've shared 740 notes over the years.

 

If one has been hit by this bug, how does one view the message:

"Last edited by xxxxxx and shared publicly with others"

 

I can't find it in either my Windows client version 5.03 or the Windows web.

 

 

 

Well, as you know, I've long complained about the lack of diagnostic information and indicators such as this, so I am sympathetic! My solution from August 2012 (when major changes were made to the interface and sharing) has been to use two accounts, one for sharing and one for private stuff. Nothing in my private account is ever shared. I can check to confirm this using the secret search sharedate:* (yes, I have also asked for better documentation on this as well). Of course, just because I have asked for something, doesn't mean Evernote ought to do it, but I do think this is a reasonable request!

 

In general, I'd say Evernote is doing a great job of improving a lot of the features on the backend, but I really think the clients need to be beefed up. I don't think this is just a power-user thing, but after reading so many comments on the Internet about Evernote's "complicated" interface, I guess I am probably in the minority Anyhow, my guess is that this is a Windows client problem for a few users, and not "real" sharing, but I would like to hear more from users who are experiencing this.

[jbenson2 2,147]

 

 

If anyone else encounters this, please go to www.evernote.com and see what the status of the notes is there. My guess is that we are seeing a client-side bug in the interface and the notes aren't actually shared. Until someone can check this out for us, could everyone tell us what client they are using? It may be that this is specific to the Windows environment.

 

I've shared 740 notes over the years.

 

If one has been hit by this bug, how does one view the message:

"Last edited by xxxxxx and shared publicly with others"

 

I can't find it in either my Windows client version 5.03 or the Windows web.

 

 

 

Well, as you know, I've long complained about the lack of diagnostic information and indicators such as this, so I am sympathetic! My solution from August 2012 (when major changes were made to the interface and sharing) has been to use two accounts, one for sharing and one for private stuff. Nothing in my private account is ever shared. I can check to confirm this using the secret search sharedate:* (yes, I have also asked for better documentation on this as well). Of course, just because I have asked for something, doesn't mean Evernote ought to do it, but I do think this is a reasonable request!

 

In general, I'd say Evernote is doing a great job of improving a lot of the features on the backend, but I really think the clients need to be beefed up. I don't think this is just a power-user thing, but after reading so many comments on the Internet about Evernote's "complicated" interface, I guess I am probably in the minority Anyhow, my guess is that this is a Windows client problem for a few users, and not "real" sharing, but I would like to hear more from users who are experiencing this.

 

 

So I guess the best solution would be for the affected users to contact Evernote Support.

[hmn001 0]

I just tried that search sharedate:* and it threw out a random note that I didn't know was shared. I couldn't see who it was shared with and it wasn't in a shared notebook. I've saved the search and will run it from time to time. Thanks!

[wannatrust 0]

Warning: this post is a light "mini-rant". I hate those. If you hate them also then skip this note. (I would just not read it.)  

 

I also found some of my notes that were 'shared'. One with a software license key and proof of purchase, one with my payroll information, and another random note. I doubt that I would choose to publicly share my payroll login account information.

 

How could this happen? I'll say this: "the RULE is never violate the customers trust". The application of that rule too often becomes "How can we trip-up the user into publishing their information?"

 

What trips/traps? 

1. Place 'share' links close to and around other links so an accidental click removes the information owners right to protection
2. Technically a 'skitch' screenshot is ALREADY SHARED to your evernote account. In early skitch days you had to actually 'click the share button' to send to evernote. The rules for what you 'author' in the 'application' is not the same as information you 'send' or 'share' to your notebook.
3. Combine your evernote account with other apps to 'automate your workflow' - opening a wide door for privacy invasion, information harvesting, profiling, and 'targeted marketing'.
   1.  You may say that I'm being too paranoid but... There is a case where a mega discount store knew that a 14 yr. old girl was pregnant two weeks before her parents did. They had combined her buying, browsing (thank you #acebook) activity and sent a coupon for 'infant diapers' in the 14 yr. old girls name TO HER HOME ADDRESS.

Now --- to be clear --- I don't think the evernote team has any evil intentions. I trust and like evernote  . But I don't like how 'slippery' the platforms (all of them) are with users interactions. One wrong click or one "update" to a 64 page "End-User License Agreement" and your information is either lost or worse shared with the highest bidder.

 

What is the fix?

Offer declarative options:

• If I'm very sharable - then make it easy for me to share
• If I'm very private  - then let me disable all sharing
• If I'm moderate - then make it easy to keep my stuff private unless I really wanted to share it. (i.e. don't place land-mines, trips and traps so I 'accidentally' share information.
• But let me decide and the app should help reinforce my decision.

Evernote is not the problem - again I like and trust them. They can be a proponent for trust and honor and gain more customers who realize that evernote's privacy is better than #acebooks harvesting.

 

Please don't 'Like' this post on Facebook. I don't like this post and would not vote for it (even though I wrote it).

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Warning: this post is a light "mini-rant". I hate those. If you hate them also then skip this note. (I would just not read it.)  

 

I also found some of my notes that were 'shared'. One with a software license key and proof of purchase, one with my payroll information, and another random note. I doubt that I would choose to publicly share my payroll login account information.

 

How could this happen? I'll say this: "the RULE is never violate the customers trust". The application of that rule too often becomes "How can we trip-up the user into publishing their information?"

 

What trips/traps? 

• Place 'share' links close to and around other links so an accidental click removes the information owners right to protection
• Technically a 'skitch' screenshot is ALREADY SHARED to your evernote account. In early skitch days you had to actually 'click the share button' to send to evernote. The rules for what you 'author' in the 'application' is not the same as information you 'send' or 'share' to your notebook.
• Combine your evernote account with other apps to 'automate your workflow' - opening a wide door for privacy invasion, information harvesting, profiling, and 'targeted marketing'.

•  You may say that I'm being too paranoid but... There is a case where a mega discount store knew that a 14 yr. old girl was pregnant two weeks before her parents did. They had combined her buying, browsing (thank you #acebook) activity and sent a coupon for 'infant diapers' in the 14 yr. old girls name TO HER HOME ADDRESS.

Now --- to be clear --- I don't think the evernote team has any evil intentions. I trust and like evernote  . But I don't like how 'slippery' the platforms (all of them) are with users interactions. One wrong click or one "update" to a 64 page "End-User License Agreement" and your information is either lost or worse shared with the highest bidder.

 

What is the fix?

Offer declarative options:

• If I'm very sharable - then make it easy for me to share
• If I'm very private  - then let me disable all sharing
• If I'm moderate - then make it easy to keep my stuff private unless I really wanted to share it. (i.e. don't place land-mines, trips and traps so I 'accidentally' share information.
• But let me decide and the app should help reinforce my decision.

Evernote is not the problem - again I like and trust them. They can be a proponent for trust and honor and gain more customers who realize that evernote's privacy is better than #acebooks harvesting.

 

Please don't 'Like' this post on Facebook. I don't like this post and would not vote for it (even though I wrote it).

Hi. I'm also a strong advocate for privacy and security around here, but I don't think your criticism quite hits the mark. Nothing in your Evernote account is shared without your permission. Period.

Skitch (or Penultimate) is part of your account and the data appears automatically there. I don't like it, personally, but this is not "sharing."

When you sign up for a third-party service, you are giving them the right to access your account, and so anything is fair game. I do not link to any third-party services in my main account. I have a separate account for this.

Target (the retailer you mentioned) used data gathered about the girl's shopping habits at Target stores. As far as I know, browser history and so forth did not factor into it. However, this is all a moot point. Evernote does not and (according to the CEO) will not mine your data, sell it to others, etc. It is an entirely different business model. There is not a 64-page user agreement unless you increase the font size

Could Evernote do better? Yes. It seems like they may be developing notebooks that third-party integrations cannot access. You can already protect your data this way with local notebooks. I would also like the option to prevent sharing (specifically, one restricting the creation of or movement of notes into joined or shared notebooks). It really is too easy to have notes misfiled through user error. However, one simple solution available now is not to join or share notebooks in the first place.

[chronistin 187]

I, too, have found "shared" notes that I was positive I never shared. In my case, I narrowed it down to 2 reasons:

 

1 - The web clipper share button is in a more click-friendly position than the save-button. 

 

2 - Using a third party task manager syncing EN reminders to a task list makes these notes "shared". I guess this is necessary to display the note in other programs? Not sure about it. 

[Mama C 0]

I keep getting a popup on my windows 8.1 laptop that says ever note Public update is available.  I saw somewhere that evernote public was discontinued, is this a security concern.  Believing I was just updating my evernote, I agreed to update.  But I've been having this same popup for well over a year.  I am concerned.  

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

I think you are mistaken. by "public" they are likely referring to a version of the software that is released to all users. This is in contrast to a "beta" which would have only been available to a small subset of users who have opted in to receiving beta releases. 

 

 

I saw somewhere that evernote public was discontinued, is this a security concern. 

 

I have never known a product called "Evernote Public" to exist. Could you describe what you mean? However, because of my earlier statement, I don't think it matter in the end.