Share notes and collaborate in Notes on Mac

1. Go to the Notes app on your Mac.

2. Open the note you want to share.

3. Do one of the following:

   • From the notes list or gallery view: Control-click the note you want to share, then choose Share Note. You can also swipe left on a note using two fingers on the trackpad (one finger on the Magic Mouse), then click .

   • From a note: Click in the toolbar.

4. Click the pop-up menu, then choose Send a Copy.

   Note: By sharing a copy, you only send a static copy of the note—recipients can’t make changes to the note or see an updated version of the note unless you send it to them again.

To collaborate with others, you can share a link to a note or a folder of notes in iCloud. You can set who can access what you share and set editing permissions. See Manage shared notes and folders.

1. Go to the Notes app on your Mac.

2. Do one of the following:

   • Collaborate on a note: Open the note you want to share, then click in the toolbar. Click the pop-up menu, then choose Share a Link.

     

     Tip: If you share the note in Messages, you get updates in the Messages conversation whenever someone makes a change to the shared note.

   • Collaborate on a folder: Control-click the folder you want to share, then choose Share Folder.

     You can also click next to the folder in the sidebar, then choose Share Folder.

3. To change the access and permissions, click “People you choose can edit,” then set any of the following:

   • Who can access: Choose “People you choose” or “Anyone with the link.” With “People you choose,” you can turn on Access Requests.

     Note: Requesting access to a note sends an email to the address associated with the owner’s Apple Account.

   • Permissions: Choose “Can edit” or “Can view and download.”

4. To open and edit a shared note, do either of the following:

   • If you shared the note: Select the note on your Mac or on iCloud.com.

   • If the note was shared with you by someone else: Click the link you received, then click Open.

     Note: For security, you can only open a note shared by someone else if the email address or phone number used to send you the invitation is associated with your Apple Account. If that isn’t the case, you’re asked to add the email address or phone number to your Apple Account. See Verify your email address or phone number to open a shared item. After you open the note, it remains in your list of notes.

You can see details of who made changes in a shared note. All participants who have the shared note open can see the changes you and others make in near real time. If you don’t have the note open when someone makes a change to it, a small yellow dot appears to the left of the note in the notes list or gallery view to let you know there unread changes.

Participants who have two-factor authentication enabled and iCloud Keychain turned on in System Settings can see others’ changes immediately, and color-coded triangles show where others are working in the note. See Set up iCloud Keychain to autofill information.

1. Go to the Notes app on your Mac.

2. Click the shared note, then swipe right with two fingers over text in the note.

   You can also click or participant contact images in the toolbar, then choose Show Highlights.

   The name of each participant, and the time they last edited the note, appears on the left, color-coded to match the text they changed.

   Tip: You can see a summary of updates since the last time you viewed the note and a day-to-day list of activity for each participant. Click or participant contact images in the toolbar, then choose Show All Activity.

1. Go to the Notes app on your Mac.

2. Do one of the following:

   • Control-click the folder you want to share, then choose Show Folder Activity.

   • Click next to the folder in the sidebar, then choose Show Folder Activity.