# Feature Request: Unlist a shared notebook

**URL:** <https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503>\
**Category:** Feedback\
**Created:** [December 15, 2018, 10:52am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503 "2018-12-15T10:52:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 10:52am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/1 "2018-12-15T10:52:58Z")

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A problem I frequently run into is that (shared) notebooks I create in response to topics on [talk.observablehq.com](http://talk.observablehq.com) clutter my own notebook index. I have no interest in keeping these around, but moving them to the trash makes them inaccessible.

I’d love to see a feature to hide a notebook from my own index:

- The notebook stays accessible to other users.
- The notebook no longer appears in my list of notebooks, unless I specifically filter by “hidden” (similar to trash).

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**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/2 "2018-12-20T10:37:57Z")

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@mbostock Any thoughts on this request?

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**Author:** ![mbostock](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mbostock/32/9_2.png) [@mbostock](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mbostock)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/3 "2018-12-20T22:56:31Z")

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Yes, I have this problem too. 🙂 We don’t have an immediate solution, but we are looking for ways to better organize your notebooks—something beyond just public collections of published notebooks. I like the idea of “resolved” or “hidden” notebooks which are still accessible by link but don’t show up in your list of notebooks.

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**Author:** ![aaronkyle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/aaronkyle/32/8106_2.png) [@aaronkyle](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/aaronkyle)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/4 "2018-12-21T11:51:24Z")

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It’s really inspiring to be a member of this community as Observable so rapidly grows and develops.

Since we’re on the the topic of organizing private notebooks, I’d like to bump a related feature request from awhile back: enabling search within one’s own private, non-shared notebooks:

> [@Searching within 'My Notebooks'](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/searching-within-my-notebooks/692):
>
> It does not appear that there’s a means for searching for one’s own draft notebooks within ‘My Notebooks’. The search tool will bring up other public notebooks, but won’t return matches within my drafts. I would find it helpful to add, and so thought that I’d raise it here for consideration. smiley

… This might be an alternative solution to cutting through ‘clutter’ in one’s non-public notebooks.

Thanks for this amazing tool, Mike, Tom and Jeremy!!!

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**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/5 "2018-12-21T12:43:04Z")

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> [@aaronkyle](#):
>
> … This might be an alternative solution to cutting through ‘clutter’ in one’s non-public notebooks.

It would certainly be a useful enhancement, but does not solve my use case: I have several unfinished notebooks that I leave lying around for weeks or months at a time. Without additional filtering I have no means to tell them apart from one-off support notebooks.

Edit: A more flexible alternative to yet another fixed category might be the ability to organize notebooks in custom categories. Tags would be an alternative to categories that can also be integrated into a search.

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**Author:** ![aaronkyle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/aaronkyle/32/8106_2.png) [@aaronkyle](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/aaronkyle)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/6 "2018-12-21T15:31:33Z")

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> [@mootari](#):
>
> Edit: A more flexible alternative to yet another fixed category might be the ability to organize notebooks in custom categories. Tags would be an alternative to categories that can also be integrated into a search.

I like this idea too - even allowing for grouping private notebooks into collections would help.

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**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/7 "2019-01-17T17:32:44Z")

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Bumping this feature request, because frankly with every new notebook I’m one step closer to just deleting the whole bunch.

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**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/8 "2019-02-02T15:49:29Z")

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… Bump? 😢

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**Author:** ![mbostock](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mbostock/32/9_2.png) [@mbostock](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mbostock)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/9 "2019-02-02T16:02:51Z")

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If you want to hide your shared notebooks, you can go here (replace my login with yours in the URL):

```auto
https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock?types=public&types=private

```

That’s our solution for the near future. There’s a huge amount of other stuff we are working to release, and we appreciate you want certain improvements, but please be patient.

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**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/10 "2019-02-02T16:07:37Z")

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> [@mbostock](#):
>
> That’s our solution for the near future. There’s a huge amount of other stuff we are working to release, and we appreciate you want certain improvements, but please be patient.

That won’t work for my case, because many of my in-progress notebooks are also shared. But since I was primarily looking for an estimate on when we might see this addition, “not in the immediate future” is an answer I can work with it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/11 "2019-02-13T21:55:43Z")

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Updated the topic title to (hopefully) better reflect what is requested.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mootari](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mootari/32/581_2.png) [@mootari](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mootari)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/feature-request-unlist-a-shared-notebook/1503/12 "2019-05-30T20:36:30Z")

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I’m marking this topic as solved because the [recent addition of private collections](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/add-a-private-notebook-to-a-collection/1869/4) provides a reasonable workaround.
