Sharing in Roma

Sharing in Roma puts one of your things in front of another person: a task, a note, an item on any list, or a whole list. Everyone can share, and nothing is shared until you share it. The people you invite see the thing and a shared conversation about it, while your own conversation with the operator about it stays private.

What you can share

• An item on its own: a task on your Tasks list, a note on your Notes list, or an item on any other list. The people you invite get that one thing.

• A whole list: everything inside comes along, and so does whatever is added to the list later.

A few things are never shared: your Tasks list itself (share one of its tasks instead), an expert, an automation, and the template of a repeating task (share one occurrence instead). A draft has no record yet, so there is nothing to share.

An item inside a shared list is shared by the list. It can be shared on its own as well, to other people or through a link of its own, and the two shares stand side by side: the list's people and the item's own people are listed apart in its dialog, and stopping one leaves the other.

Who has access

Only you, until you share. Sharing never happens by accident: a person has access because you invited them, or because you created a public link and they opened it. Your operator sees everything of yours, as always.

There are two ways in. An invitation goes to an email address, and the person is in the moment they sign in with that address. A public link lets anyone who holds it join. How each works is in invitations, public links and Shared with me.

The two levels

Every person you share with has one of two levels, and both read, chat, comment and edit.

• Can edit is the default for an invitation, and the only level a link gives.

• Full access has everything Can edit has, plus inviting other people. It is only given by invitation, never through a link.

What never changes hands: deleting or archiving the thing, the public link, anyone's level, removing people, and stopping the share. The whole picture is in Roles: Can edit and Full access.

A task on its own, or a whole list

The two kinds of share differ in one way that matters every day.

When you share a task or a note on its own, the title and the body belong to everyone who can edit, and so do the comments and the shared conversation. The status, the due date, every other property and the attachments stay yours. Hovering one of them reads "Only the owner can change this." (on the iPhone, a tap says it). Members do not file the task anywhere: it lives under Shared with me for them, and they cannot move it into a list of their own.

When you share a list, everyone in the list works the way you do: they add items, edit everything inside (the status and the due date included), archive and delete inside, and edit the list itself, its name, its icon, its properties and the view everyone shares. What a member creates belongs to you, with their name on the history and in the list's Created by property. Deleting or archiving the list, its standing instructions and the sharing itself stay yours.

Where shared things show up

Something shared with you appears under Shared with me in your sidebar the moment you join, and leaves when you leave. A list sits there as one row and opens the way its owner arranged it. Every row of a shared thing wears a small shared mark at its right edge, so you always see what is shared, yours and theirs.

What people do on things you share lands in Updates: the bell beside the Operator pill in the browser and in the Mac app, the Updates row under More on the iPhone. A member's edit, a message, someone joining or leaving, a list shared with you: each is a row there, and your phone buzzes for the kinds you keep on in Settings → Notifications.

The shared conversation

Each shared thing has one conversation that everyone in it reads, separate from your private conversations. It opens by saying so: what is shared, who is here, and how the operator joins. The operator stays out until someone writes @operator, and the operator that answers is the operator of the person who wrote the message, with that person's own connections, lists and automations. Nobody reaches anyone else's. The rules are in agents and automations on shared items.

Stopping and leaving

The owner stops a share from the share dialog's footer, and the people in it lose access at once. A member leaves from the thing's ⋯ menu. Nothing is deleted either way: the owner keeps the thing, edits included, and the link lets a person back in. Both are in stop sharing, or leave something shared with you.

Questions people ask

Can I share something with someone who has no Roma account?

Yes. Invite their email address: the invitation waits, and it is accepted automatically the first time that address signs in to Roma. Or send them the public link: anyone with the link can read a task or a note before signing in, and signing in with Google or Apple joins them with Can edit.

Does the other person see my conversation with the operator?

No. Your private conversation about the thing stays private, and nobody else ever sees it. Sharing starts a new shared conversation, which is the one everyone reads, your replies from the operator in it included.

Can I share my Tasks list?

No. The Tasks list is the one list that is never shared. Share one of its tasks on its own, or create a list and share that.

Is sharing the same in the browser, in the Mac app and on the iPhone?

Yes. You share from the same place on every client, the people you invite get the same access, and a share made on one device shows on all of yours. The share dialog is a sheet on the iPhone, and the few places the phone differs are named in each article.