Evernote Business Account

Effective Date: October 4, 2016 - What’s new »

We will not be implementing the changes to our privacy policy that were previously announced. Learn more.

Evernote values your privacy. We make this clear in our 3 Laws of Data Protection. This Privacy Policy explains more specifically what information Evernote Corporation and its affiliated companies (together, “Evernote” or “we” and sometimes “us”) collect about you and why, what we may do with that information and how we handle your Content.

With Evernote Business, you can onboard new teammates faster, and hold on to information when they leave. Plus, set up a free Premium account, so your work and personal files always stay separate. We are extremely lean, we need to be efficient and work quickly. Evernote Business really is just the personal version of Evernote with access for multiple people for all your company notes and notebooks. That means your business will outgrow the power of Evernote Business before long. And Evernote doesn’t offer anything that can’t be easily replaced by any other document tool out there. Evernote Business allows users to create and have access to business notebooks, which have extra sharing options specifically for the organization. Many Evernote Business users have preexisting personal Evernote accounts with private content. I have two Evernote accounts. One for business and one for personal use. I wanted to combine them in to one account but just keep them in separate notebooks. Little did I know, when you import from another account, it doesnt keep the tag hierarchy. Now, I have hundreds of tags thrown everywhere i.

What is the Scope of This Privacy Policy?

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into the Evernote Terms of Service and applies to the information obtained by us through your use of the Service. Capitalized terms used in this Privacy Policy and not otherwise defined shall have the meanings provided for those terms in the Terms of Service.

Will This Privacy Policy Ever Change?

As Evernote evolves, we may need to update this Policy to keep pace with changes in the Service, our business and laws applicable to us and you; we will, however, always maintain our commitment to respect your privacy. We will post any revisions to this Policy, along with their effective date, in an easy to find area of our web site, so we recommend that you periodically check back here to stay informed of any changes. As long as you continue to use the Service, you are bound by the terms of the Privacy Policy. If you disagree with any changes to this Policy and do not wish your information to be subject to a revised Policy, you will need to close your account and/or stop using the Service.

For material changes that impact the collection, use, disclosure or retention of personal information, or for other changes where obtaining your prior consent may be required by applicable law, we will provide notice by sending you an email at the address we have on file for you prior to any changes.

I. Information Collection and Use

What Information Does Evernote Collect about Me and Why?

In order to set up an account, we will ask you to input a limited amount of personal information (like email address and payment details, if you pay us), and we will also collect some information in the background (like device type, operating system, etc.) as part of our efforts to understand how you and others access and use the Service. And of course we store the Content you add to your account.

In general, we process your information and Content in ways that will help you get the most out of your use of your account, will help us improve our Service for you and everyone, and will enable us to tell you about aspects of the Service that we think will benefit you. You can read more about how we process your Content in our “What Does Evernote Do with My Content?” section. In the chart below, we have listed the categories of non-Content information we collect and how we use that information.

If you register for or maintain an Evernote service account:

We collect	Why we collect it
Your username, email address and contact preferences	To create and support your Evernote service account. To communicate with you. To enable other users to collaborate with you through Collaboration Features (such as shared Notes and Notebooks). To contact you about Evernote features, products, services and other promotions that can enhance your use of the Service in accordance with your communications preferences. To verify your email address to help prevent spam, fraud and abuse.
Your name, image and other personal information, if you elect to share it	To show in your user profile.
The geographic area where you use your computing devices when you interact with the Service and the language you select	To localize your interaction with the Service and improve our understanding of how users interact with the Service. To help you verify use of your account: We make recent IP address history available to you through your account settings. To assist us in complying with legal restrictions that may limit the permissible use of the Service.
Your device identifiers	To show you (on your account’s Access History page) which applications are authorized to access your Evernote service account and date of last access. (We do this by combining your device identifier with a human-readable description of the device (e.g., “My iPad”) when you use your device to access the Service.) To inform our targeted advertising initiatives as described on our Cookie Information page To allow you to redeem a promotional offer. To provide account support. To calculate anonymous, aggregate statistics on the number of unique devices using the Service. Together with purchase information, to assist us in evaluating our compliance with export laws.
Your telephone number	To help prevent spam, fraud, and abuse, and to aid in account recovery. If you elect to otherwise share your telephone number or link it to your account, it may also be used: To enable two-step verification on your account. To enable other users to communicate with you through Collaboration Features. To show in your user profile.
Your location and calendar information – if you elect to share it	To enhance your Notes with location and calendar information. To show you relevant Content to which you have access.
Actions you perform when using the Service, including your use of certain service features, as well as the type of device and software you are using	To administer the Service and improve the features and usability of the Service. To suggest to you Evernote features, products and services that can enhance your use of the Service.
Non-personally identifiable information indicating your association with one of our business partners or promotions (if applicable)	To determine the amount of revenue share payments to make to partners with whom we might have such arrangements and to provide anonymized aggregate reports.
Your payment information	To process your payment. (In most cases, Evernote uses third-party payment processors and therefore has only limited information about your payment transactions)

Evernote Business Accounts

Additional information we collect in connection with Evernote Business accounts:

Organization name and name and email address of account creator	To create and support your Evernote Business account.
Billing information (i.e., address, email address and telephone number)	To communicate with the Billing Contact on the account and provide account support.
Email addresses of Evernote Business account Administrators and end users	To support the Evernote Business account and communicate with account Administrators and end users.
Employment-related personal information – if you elect to share it	To show in your Evernote Business account user profile

If you use our Web Clipper browser extension or 'Save to Evernote' button:

We collect	Why we collect it
A record of the source website from which you save Content	To record the source of your saved Content (e.g., URL). This source-recording functionality will not be affected by your browser’s do-not-track settings.

Please Note: If you have installed the Web Clipper, then when you visit certain websites it may notify you of available integrations with the Evernote service or about products, services or features that we think will help you get more out of the Evernote service. The Web Clipper does not create a record of your browsing activity.

If you visit an Evernote website:

We collect	Why we collect it
Your email address (if you provide it)	To help you create an Evernote service account. To communicate with you.
Tracking information	Please see the section on tracking below and our Cookie Information page

When you access the Service via an Evernote Software application, that application will request access to certain information on your computing device. For more information on these application permissions, please visit our Data Usage page.

What Tracking Information Does Evernote Collect about Me or My Devices?

Evernote uses cookies, tracking pixels and similar technologies on our Service to collect information that helps us provide our Service to you and to learn how our Service is used. We also use these technologies to help deliver promotional messages and ads for relevant Evernote products and services. For more information about these uses and your options, please visit our Cookie Information page.

What is Evernote’s Approach to Information Collected from Children?

Evernote does not knowingly collect personal information from children without parental consent. If we learn that we have inadvertently obtained information in violation of applicable laws prohibiting collection of information from children without such consent, we will promptly delete it. For more information on Evernote’s approach to use of the Service by children, and our compliance with the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), please see the section of our Terms of Service entitled, “Can Kids Use Evernote?”

Will Evernote Contact Me?

From time to time, where it is in accordance with your communication preferences, we may contact you via email with information about product announcements, service offerings that we think may be beneficial to you, software updates and special offers. We also may contact you with information about products and services from our business partners. You may opt out of such communications at any time by following the opt-out instructions provided in emails or by logging into your Evernote service account via our web site at www.evernote.com and going to Settings > Personal Settings > Contact Preferences and changing your contact preferences.

You will continue to receive essential Service-related and account-related information, even if you unsubscribe from promotional emails.

We will also contact you through in-app notifications. You can turn off these notifications through your device settings.

In addition, if someone uses an email address, telephone number, social media profile, or other identifying information not associated with your Evernote service account to contact you through Evernote’s Collaboration Features, then Evernote will contact you on the sender’s behalf using the method chosen by the sender.

If you sign up for two-step verification on your Evernote service account, then depending on the verification method you choose, we may use a third-party provider to send a verification code via text message to the phone number you provide.

II. Information Access and Disclosure

Does Evernote Share My Personal Information or Content?

Evernote is not in the business of selling or renting your information. Outside of actions you take within the Service to communicate via Evernote’s Collaboration Features, or to authorize third-party applications, we only disclose your information - and then only the minimum information necessary - when:

We have your explicit consent to share the information.
We need to share your information with Service Providers who process data on our behalf in order to operate and improve the features and functionality of the Service; complete your payment transactions; fulfill your product or service requests, including sales, delivery and support requests; and help us communicate with you as described elsewhere in this policy; these providers are subject to strict data protection requirements in keeping with our commitments under our US-Switzerland Safe Harbor certification as discussed below.
We need to share your information with resellers of a Paid Service or product in order to ensure accuracy in the payment for such Paid Service or product, the management of your account and the delivery of your purchase and related support services.
We believe it is necessary to investigate potential violations of our Terms of Service, to enforce the Terms of Service, or where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud or potential threats against persons, property or the systems on which we operate the Service.
We determine that the access, preservation or disclosure of information is required or permitted by law to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Evernote and users of the Service, or is required to comply with applicable laws, including compliance with warrants, court orders, subpoenas, legal process, or other lawful government requests (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).
We do so in connection with the sale or reorganization of all or part of our business, as permitted by applicable law.

Some third parties’ embedded content or plugins on the Service, such as Facebook “Like” buttons, may allow their operators to learn that you have visited our website, and they may combine this information with other, identifiable information they have collected about your visits to other websites or online services. For more information with additional examples, see the “Social Media Features” section of our Cookie Information page.

We do not share your account information or user activity history with third parties for the purpose of enabling them to deliver their advertisements to you. As described on our Cookie Information page, we contract with third-party advertising networks in order to deliver relevant Evernote advertisements to you across the Internet and to manage our communications with you.

In addition, we may share with partners or Service Providers a hashed identifier derived from the personal information you have submitted to us (such as your email address) to serve you ads when you visit partners’ and providers’ websites, applications or platforms. We may, for instance, participate in the Twitter Tailored Audience and Facebook Custom Audience services. To learn more about the privacy controls that Twitter and Facebook offer and honor for those respective services, please visit here for Twitter and here for Facebook. You may opt out of certain ad targeting and retargeting services by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out page, or the Network Advertising Initiative’s opt-out page. We also may share a hashed identifier derived from the personal information you have submitted to us (such as your email address) with Service Providers who help us manage and track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts.

If I’m a Member of an Evernote Business Account, Can My Account Administrator See Any of My Data?

An Administrator (“Admin”) of an Evernote Business account has access to all Notes you create in any Notebook associated with that Evernote Business account. The Admin also can see the Evernote Business Notes or Notebooks you’ve shared and with whom you have shared this Content. (The Admin will see the profile name for other members of the Evernote Business account or the contact information for people who are not in the Evernote Business account). An Admin cannot access any of the Notes in your personal account or any of your Work Chat Content, however. If domain auto-approval is turned off for your Evernote Business account and your personal Evernote service account is associated with your Evernote Business account’s email domain (e.g., [username]@widgets.com), then when you send a Work Chat to someone else with an email address on the same email domain as you, then the Admin will know that you sent the Work Chat message but will not be able to view the Content of that message. We do this so an Admin knows who else in your organization may need to be invited to join the Evernote Business account.

For more information on how your personal Evernote service account works with your Evernote Business account, please review our Help & Learning article on this subject entitled “Are a user's personal notebooks or personal information accessible by other Evernote Business users or Admins?”.

What Information Does Evernote Share When I Use Collaboration Features?

The Evernote service has a number of Collaboration Features, and when you use these features to collaborate with others, some of the personal information you provide to Evernote, including your status as an Evernote service user, may be visible to these other users:

If you share a Note or Notebook, or if you join a shared Note or Notebook, then anyone who has access to that Note or Notebook may see your user profile. (If you have not added any profile information, then you will be identified solely by the email address associated with your Evernote service Account.)
If you initiate or respond to a Work Chat message, then the person with whom you are chatting will be able to view your profile.
In a group Work Chat where you are a recipient of a message but you have not responded, only other Evernote service users you are connected to will see your user profile. Other people in the group chat will only see the information the sender used when sending you the Work Chat message (e.g., email address or telephone number).
If you are an Evernote Business user, other members of your Evernote Business account will see your full Evernote Business account profile. But Evernote service users who are not in your Evernote Business account will only see your profile name and image.

In addition, anyone who has access to a shared Notebook will be able to see – for each Note in that Notebook – the Note contents, information about where and when the Note was created, as well as the Note history, tags and reminders associated with a particular Note. But when Notes are shared via Work Chat, people with access to the Note will only see the Note contents, plus information about where and when the Note was created.

What Gets Shared When I Use Third Party Apps with My Evernote Account?

Some third-party applications and services that work with our Service may ask for permission to access your Content or other information about your account. Those applications will provide you with notice and request your consent in order to obtain such access or information. Please consider your selection of such applications and services, and your permissions, carefully. We encourage you to review each party’s contract terms and privacy policy. To learn more about some of these applications and what data they may access, visit our Third Party Application Permissions page.

Do Evernote Employees Access or Review My Notes?

As a rule, Evernote employees do not monitor or view your personal information or Content stored in the Service, but we list below the limited circumstances in which our employees may need to access or review your personal information or account Content:

We believe our Terms of Service has been violated and confirmation is required or we otherwise have an obligation to review your account Content as described in our Terms of Service;
We need to do so for troubleshooting purposes;
Where necessary to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Evernote and its users (including to protect against potential spam, malware or other security concerns); or
In order to comply with our legal obligations, such as responding to warrants, court orders or other legal process. We vigilantly protect the privacy of your account Content and, whenever we determine it possible, we provide you with notice if we believe we are compelled to comply with a third party’s request for information about your account. Please visit our Information for Authorities page for more information.

What does Evernote do with my Content?

Evernote also uses a number of technologies to help you get the most out of the Service. Our systems automatically analyze your data, including your account Content, in order to power Evernote features and to continually improve the Service for you. This may include, for example:

Making search work the way you want it to;
Showing you information most relevant to how you are using the Service at a specific time or location;
Detecting when it looks like you’re making a list and suggest features or tips that might be useful;
Showing you information relevant to a note you are creating or reviewing. The information we show you may include Notes from your own account, Notes from accounts you are connected to through Evernote Business or Collaboration Features, and third party content that you have elected to receive.

We believe features like these will enhance your experience using the Service. In addition, we may suggest Evernote service features or products to you that we think will help you get the most out of our Service. We do not share your account Content with anyone for advertising purposes.

In addition, as part of our efforts to protect your account and the functionality of the Service, our automated systems may analyze the emails you send to and from your Evernote service account to detect spam, malware or other potential security concerns and may block delivery of such emails.

Does Evernote Ever Make Any of My Personal Information or Content Public?

No. Please note, however, that certain portions of the Service, such as user notebooks designated as “public” and our user forum, are open to any online viewer. Any information that you post in these locations can be read, collected and used by anyone and could enable others to send you unsolicited messages. Evernote enables you to determine whether or not to post personal or otherwise sensitive information to publicly accessible areas of our site, so you should carefully consider how you use the Service. Evernote is not responsible for any publication or use of any Personal Information you choose to post in these locations.

III. Data Storage and Transfer

Which Evernote Company is my Data Controller?

If you live anywhere other than the United States, Canada or Brazil, please note that not only is Switzerland-based Evernote GmbH the data controller for all information associated with your Evernote service account, but Evernote GmbH is also the data controller for any payment, order, shipping and other information you may have provided if you purchased an item from the Evernote Market, even though such order may have been placed with and fulfilled by U.S.-based Evernote Corporation, as described in our Commercial Terms.

Where Is My Data Stored and Processed?

When you use Evernote Software on your computing device, such as by using one of our downloadable applications, Content you save will be stored locally on that device. When you sync your computing device with the Service, that Content will be replicated on servers we and our Service Providers maintain in the United States.

This means that if you store information in or submit data to the Evernote website or Evernote Software and sync such Evernote Software with the Evernote service, you acknowledge your information, including Personal Information and Content, will be transmitted to, hosted and accessed in the United States.

Data privacy laws or regulations in your home country may differ from those in the United States; however, we will collect, store and use your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable laws, wherever it is processed.

As described above, if you are a resident of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) or Switzerland, Evernote GmbH is the data controller of your information. As such, when Evernote GmbH transfers your data to Evernote Corporation, it does so in compliance with the US-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of personal information. Evernote Corporation has certified that we adhere to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access and enforcement. To learn more about the US-Swiss Safe Harbor program, and to view our certification page, please visit http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/.

If you have any questions or concerns about our US-Swiss Safe Harbor program, please contact us using the details in the 'Contact Us' section below.

A Special Note to Customers in Japan

If you live in Japan, please note that Evernote GmbH is the data controller for all information associated with your Evernote service account, but Evernote GmbH also has contractual relationships with third party resellers for the Japan market permitting joint use of your personal information with such third parties (including addresses, names, telephone numbers, email addresses, credit card information, as well as the details of shopping transactions in the Evernote Market, subscriptions for a Paid Service and related customer support inquiries). Information about our Japan reseller for the Evernote Market may be found at our Evernote Market FAQ. Information about our Japan reseller for a Paid Service will be provided to you as part of a contract such reseller will provide to you.

How Can I Access or Correct Information Evernote Holds About Me?

If you wish to (i) access any Personal Information that we hold about you; (ii) request that we correct, amend or delete the Personal Information that we hold about you; or (iii) request that we not use or stop using your Personal Information for marketing purposes, you may contact us via email at compliance AT evernote DOT com. We will comply with such requests to the extent required by applicable law or US-Swiss Safe Harbor Principles, and subject to any limitations in our systems.

How Secure Is My Data?

Evernote is committed to protecting the security of your information and takes reasonable precautions to protect it. Our Security Overview provides a detailed description of our security program. By using the Evernote service, you agree that our security practices as defined in our Security Overview are sufficient.

We use industry standard encryption to protect your data in transit. This is commonly referred to as transport layer security (“TLS”) or secure socket layer (“SSL”) technology. However, internet data transmissions, cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure, and we cannot ensure the security of information during its transmission between you and us. Accordingly, you acknowledge that when you transport such information, you do so at your own risk.

If Evernote learns of a security system breach, we may attempt to notify you and provide information on protective steps, if available, through the email address that you have provided to us or by posting a notice on our web site and/or via other communication platforms. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive such notices in writing.

IV. Information Deletion

What Happens If I Want to Stop Using Evernote?

You can delete Note Content at any time, and you can stop using the Evernote service at any time. If you deactivate your account, the Content in your account will not be deleted unless you purposely delete that information, and sync your account before you deactivate your account. Learn how to delete your Content here. Learn how to remove your account and account credentials here. If you delete information and material from a notebook and then sync your account, it will no longer be accessible to you or others who may access the Service. The Evernote service’s back-up and archiving systems may retain residual copies of your deleted Content for up to one year due to the nature of those systems’ operations.

If you delete your copy of a Work Chat message, this action can't be undone. Please note that deleting your copy of a Work Chat message from your own Evernote account won’t delete those messages from the accounts of the people with whom you were chatting.

What Happens If Evernote Closes My Account?

If Evernote deactivates your Evernote service account due to a Terms of Service violation, then you may contact Evernote to request deletion of your data, and Evernote will evaluate such requests on a case by case basis, pursuant to our legal obligations.

V. Contact Us

How Can I Contact Evernote?

Evernote welcomes your feedback regarding this Privacy Policy. If you have questions, comments or concerns about this Policy or our US-Swiss Safe Harbor certification, please contact us by email at privacy AT Evernote DOT com or postal mail at:

Evernote Corporation
305 Walnut StreetRedwood City, California 94063 USAAttention: Privacy Team
Evernote GmbH
Walchestrasse 98006 Zurich, SwitzerlandAttention: Privacy Team
Evernote Do Brasil Servicos De Aplicacoes Ltda
Avenida Paulista, no 2.300Andar PilotisEdifício São Luiz GonzagaCEP: 01310-300, São Paulo/SPBrasilAttention: Privacy Team

Evernote Business

Interacting with the Evernote Business API

Evernote Business provides businesses with the means to collect, organize and share company information. We do this using many of the same tools that exist in Evernote, which provides a consistent and familiar experience for our users. If you're not sure what Evernote Business is exactly, visit the product page for a more thorough overview.

The only real prerequisite for working with the Evernote Business API is familiarity with the Evernote Cloud API, particularly the notebook sharing facilities. Most of the functions used to access Evernote Business data are very similar to—in many cases, exactly the same as—their equivalents found in the Evernote Cloud API.

There are, of course, a number of functions and techniques unique to the Evernote Business API. We'll talk about them in a second, but first we need to describe how Evernote Business data is stored and accessed.

Understanding the Evernote Business data model

Evernote Sign In

When an Evernote user joins a business, they're essentially creating a second Evernote account using the same login. Data stored in the user's personal Evernote account and Evernote Business data are stored in physically different places (shards) and are owned by different entities. When a non-business user adds data to their account, they're free to do whatever they like with said data, including permanently deleting it. For a business user, it's analogous to linking someone else's notebook to her account: she doesn't own the business notebook and can't delete it (though, she can leave it). If she creates a note in the business notebook, she can move it to the Trash, but can't permanently delete it. Deleting notes and notebooks are capabilities reserved for the owner of the information. For Evernote Business, the owner of the information is the business itself.

So, to reiterate, here are the main differences (as far as data permissions and storage) between Evernote and Evernote Business:

Users of Evernote Business do not retain ownership of data they add to business notebooks. Business notes and notebooks are the property of the business, not the user who created them.
Business data is usually stored on a different shard (physical server) than personal data.
Business data is always accessed through a Business NoteStore instance.

Creating and activating a business on sandbox

To use the business API on our sandbox server, you'll need to create a test business by following the steps below

Visit the business account creation page on sandbox.
Create your business account by selecting Annual invoice as a payment method.
Open a ticket to request the business activation.

Note that, while Evernote Business is a paid product, there is no charge to create or activate an Evernote Business account on sandbox. But, keep in mind that sandbox is for testing and development only.

Determining if a user is part of a business

A valid Evernote account doesn't necessarily mean that the account holder is part of a business. To determine whether a given user is associated with a business, we can query the user's User instance for the businessId member in the User's instance of Accounting. You can get the User instance by calling UserStore.getUser (which requires a valid OAuth token or developer token):

Authenticating to a business

Once your application has authenticated to the User's Evernote account (your application has an authentication token obtained via OAuth or a developer token, in other words) and you have determined that the user is part of a business, call UserStore.authenticateToBusiness to authenticate your application to their associated business, passing the token as the single parameter. If an exception isn't thrown, then the user has been successfully authenticated:

Using the return value in the above example, we can access details about the business using the AuthenticationResult instance. See the type definition for all available attributes.

For the current discussion, we're most concerned with the value of AuthenticationResult.authenticationToken, which we'll use to make all subsequent API calls dealing with the user's Evernote Business account.

Note: Authentication tokens issued by UserStore.authenticateToBusiness are only valid for one hour (as opposed to OAuth tokens, which are good for a full year). This means that your app will frequently need to re-authenticate with Evernote Business using the longer-lived OAuth token. Since the business authentication tokens are so short-lived, it's very probable that your app will encounter EDAMUserException with the AUTH_EXPIRED error code when trying to call a business API; ensure that your code accounts for this condition.

Creating a Business NoteStore instance

After authenticating to a business, you're probably going to want to view notebooks, create notes, etc. using the NoteStore. The Business API uses the same NoteStore type used by normal Evernote API clients and is instantiated the same way: using the noteStoreUrl value associated with the user. You can retrieve this value by querying the noteStoreUrl property of the AuthenticationResult returned by UserStore.authenticateToBusiness.

Once we have the NoteStore URL, we use that to create our instance of NoteStore and start making API calls:

Listing all user-accessible notebooks in a business

Using your instance of NoteStore that's associated with the user (not the business), you can call NoteStore.listLinkedNotebooks to see a list of all of the business notebooks the user has linked to their account:

Here, we simply request all of the linked notebooks associated with the user and check for the presence of a businessId member — if it's present, the notebook is a business notebook.

Creating a business notebook

Creating a new notebook in a business (a business notebook) is almost the same as creating a notebook in a user's personal account. Simply create an instance of Notebook and call NoteStore.createNotebook to create the notebook. Unlike a personal notebook, creating a business notebook involves the automatic creation of a SharedNotebook that grants the creator full access to the new notebook. The newly created business notebook doesn't belong to our user - it belongs to the business - but they have been given access to create, update and remove notes in the notebook, and to share the notebook with other users.

Unlike creating personal notebooks, there's a second step involved in creating a new business notebook. Our application must create a new LinkedNotebook that binds the business notebook to the user's personal account. First, we need to grab the instance of SharedNotebook that describes the current user's ability to access and modify the notebook. We do this by grabbing the first element in the notebook's sharedNotebooks collection. Then, using the shareKey value from the SharedNotebook instance (as well as the username and shard of the owner and the notebook's name), we create and populate an instance of LinkedNotebook and link it to the current user's account by calling NoteStore.createLinkedNotebook. Note that this call takes the OAuth token, not the token associated with the user's business account, and uses the normal NoteStore client, not the business NoteStore.

Here's a simple example of the process of creating a Business notebook and immediately linking it to the creator's account:

Assuming the wheels didn't fall off, the Business notebook in question will now be visible in the user's notebook list in the Evernote client applications.

Creating notes in a business notebook

To create a note in a business notebook, you'll need to complete this short list of steps:

Locate the LinkedNotebook instance that connects the business notebook with the user's account.
Use the shareKey property of the LinkedNotebook in conjunction with user's authentication token to call NoteStore.authenticateToSharedNotebook. This API function will return an instance of AuthenticationResult containing a new authenticationToken that will only be used for interacting with the SharedNotebook in question.
Retrieve the associated SharedNotebook instance by calling getSharedNotebookByAuth and passing the new authentication token (from the previous step) as the single parameter.
Using the notebookGuid value from the SharedNotebook instance, you can now call createNote against the business NoteStore, passing the business authentication token, which we defined earlier.

If you'd like to see a working sample application that demonstrates most of the basic Evernote Business API functionality, you can view our sample application on GitHub.

Need help?

If you have trouble implementing the Evernote Business API and would like assistance, head over to the developer support page.