Real-time Sharing in SciNote through Task Shareable Links

In this blog post, we will look at how you can share your data within SciNote in real-time, and highlight a few key things to know about sharing your data with collaborators or any external audience.

Introduction

The ability to share data with collaborators is an important foundation of a successful research collaboration. It not only facilitates communication among collaborators, accelerates the process of discovery, and improves the quality of the collaboration. Traditionally, this was done by emailing documents and spreadsheets to each other. However, such a way limits the access to the most up-to-date data and increases the chance of confusion and misunderstanding.

In this blog post, we will look at how you can share your data within SciNote in real-time, and highlight a few key things to know about sharing your data with collaborators or any external audience.

* This feature will be available to all premium users on August 30th, 2023. Free users will have access to this feature in a future release. Platinum users will have access to this update in spring 2024.

Share data in a SciNote task in real time via a sharable link

Starting fall 2023*, SciNote users will be able to share a link to a specific SciNote task with colleagues, collaborators, or even external stakeholders; they will not need a SciNote account to view the task content.

When task sharing is enabled by the SciNote team administrator on the team settings page, there will be an option available in each task in SciNote for team members to create a shareable link.

This shareable link will give anyone who has the link the view-only access to the task protocol and results tab. The remaining tabs from the task will not be displayed to the visitor opening the shared link. The visitor also won’t have access to other content in SciNote (e.g., experiments and projects).

The link is unique to each task, and offers the option for you to add a message that will be displayed to those you share the link with.

Link recipient can access the task without a SciNote account

Anyone who receives the shared link can instantly access the task by clicking on it, without the need to create an account.

Collaborators can view the task protocol & results tab, comments associated with steps and results, and also preview and download files attached to the task.

Keep in mind that collaborators will see the real-time task view, not a snap shot of the task. This means that they will stay informed and up-to-date on task progress, discussions regarding relevant steps and results, and essential information.

Turning off link sharing of a task

When you think the sharing should be disabled, simply toggle the link sharing off. With this, task access via the deleted link will be denied. Task sharing can also be disabled on a team level by the team administrator; in this case, all created shared links for any tasks will be deleted within the team.

Do note that the sharable link does not expire until you disable link sharing.

Other ways to share – generating reports in SciNote

Another way to share your SciNote data, albeit not in real time, is by generating a PDF or Word document using SciNote’s report generator. Here, a report will be created using existing data within SciNote. You will have the option to decide what you would like to include from your SciNote data, and prepare a printable file that’s easy to share.

You can also further modify the document by including additional information or updating its format based on your needs and other requirements.

Sharing data with an external audience

While the sharable links to tasks feature is not designed for such a purpose, you can certainly use the link however you prefer, as long as it meets your specific application, submission, or publication guidelines. Keep in mind that any time you would like to stop sharing the task, you will need to toggle the link sharing option off.

You can also consider using the report generator to prepare a document that can be shared with others, or be submitted to repositories in order for you to meet data management and sharing requirements. Keep in mind that not all file attachments are incorporated directly into the report you generate from SciNote; you might need to append them to the report once it is generated. Additionally, each repository might have its own formatting specification and requirements; you will need to update the generated reports to meet them.

Breaking the data sharing barrier

We believe in breaking the barriers to collaboration. Shareable links to tasks ensures that those opening the shared link can view the content without having to create an account. It also eliminates the need to send files back and forth, and facilitates efficient collaboration.

With shareable links to tasks, you control who can access your content. When you think the sharing should be disabled, simply toggle the link sharing on task off and the shared link will be deleted and the task access via the deleted shared link will be denied.