This feature is only available with Admin Console deployment. If your school uses Goodnotes Education without Admin Console, contact our support team to discuss upgrading.
Notebook sharing allows students and teachers to share notebooks directly with others in your school. Because sharing can expose student-created content to a wider audience, Goodnotes turns this setting off by default in all Education deployments. This article explains the safeguarding considerations behind that default and walks you through how to enable sharing if your institution has decided it's appropriate.
Why Notebook Sharing Is Off by Default
Goodnotes disables notebook sharing by default to protect students. When sharing is enabled, any user in your deployment can share a notebook — including students. This means:
- Student work and any personal information captured in notebooks may become visible to other users across the school
- Students may inadvertently (or intentionally) share notebooks containing sensitive or private content
- Once a notebook is shared, the receiving party can view its contents without additional approval
These risks are particularly significant in deployments that include minors. Goodnotes follows a safeguarding-first approach, which is why sharing remains off until an Owner or Admin explicitly activates it.
Before You Enable Sharing
Before switching notebook sharing on, we recommend your institution considers the following:
- Age of users. If your deployment includes students under 18, review your school's safeguarding and data protection policies before enabling sharing.
- Supervision. Determine whether teachers will be able to monitor what students share and with whom.
- Acceptable use. Ensure your school's acceptable use policy covers notebook sharing and that students have been briefed accordingly.
- Data protection obligations. Depending on your jurisdiction, enabling sharing may have implications under local data protection legislation (such as GDPR, FERPA, or equivalent frameworks). Consult your Data Protection Officer or equivalent if you are unsure.
Important: Goodnotes recommends keeping notebook sharing disabled unless your institution has appropriate safeguards in place. If in doubt, leave this setting off.
How to Enable Notebook Sharing
Notebook sharing is controlled from the Admin Console. Only Owners and Admins can change this setting.
- Open the Admin Console.
- Go to Settings.
- Under Sharing & Permissions, locate the Notebook Sharing toggle.
- Read the warning prompt that appears, then select Enable to confirm.
Please note: Enabling notebook sharing applies to all users in your deployment immediately. There is no per-class or per-group control for this setting.
How to Disable Notebook Sharing
If you need to turn sharing off again, follow the same steps above and toggle Notebook Sharing off. Disabling sharing does not retroactively remove access to notebooks that have already been shared — those recipients will retain access until the shared notebook is manually unshared by the owner.
Please note: Notebooks that were shared before sharing was disabled remain accessible to recipients. Ask teachers and students to manually unshare any notebooks they no longer want others to access.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I control which users are allowed to share notebooks?
Not at an individual user level. The sharing setting is school-wide. If you enable sharing, all users — including students — will be able to share notebooks.
Does disabling sharing remove existing shared access?
No. Disabling sharing prevents new notebooks from being shared, but does not revoke access to notebooks that are already shared. Those notebooks must be unshared manually by their owners.
Is sharing enabled between schools or only within my deployment?
Notebook sharing is scoped to users within your deployment. Students and teachers cannot share notebooks with users outside your school's Goodnotes account.
Who can see a shared notebook?
Only the specific user the notebook is shared with. Notebooks are not published or made publicly accessible — sharing is always direct, between named users.