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Guides Waiting for a key

Troubleshooting

Waiting for a key

Why a folder shared with you can wait before it opens, what the owner's vault has to do, and how to get it moving on either side.

A shared folder is locked with its own key, and only a device that already holds that key can pass it on. The server cannot: it never has the key. So when you join a folder, you are a member straight away, but you can open it only once a vault belonging to one of its owners has been open long enough to share the key with you.

That normally takes seconds. It takes longer when every owner's vault is closed.

Before you start

  • Work out which side you are on: the person waiting for a folder, or its owner.

Steps

If you are waiting for a folder

  1. Make sure your passphrase is set and entered on this device. In Settings → Nectenda → Security → Encryption, a Your folders are locked line means it is not; choose Enter passphrase.
  2. Ask the folder's owner to open Obsidian with the vault that shares it.
  3. Leave Obsidian open. Until the key arrives, the folder is listed under Shared with you as Waiting for its key. When it arrives, a notice offers the folder with Add to this vault.

If you own the folder

  1. Open the vault that shares the folder, and enter your passphrase if asked.
  2. Right-click the folder and choose Nectenda: People…. Beside the person, a line says what they are waiting for:
    • waiting for their key — your vault shares it shortly after it is open. Leave it open for a minute.
    • waiting for them to set up encryption — they have not chosen a passphrase yet. Ask them to.
    • not shared: their key changed — see Compare encryption keys.
    • sharing the key failed — it is retried automatically.

Check the result

The person waiting gets the notice … shared a folder with you. and can add it. On the owner's side, a notice says the folder was shared with them, and the waiting line goes.

Troubleshooting

The owner's vault was open, and nothing happened

Check that the owner entered their passphrase on that device — a locked vault cannot share a key it cannot open. Then check the line in People in … for the reason.

The folder's owner has left

Any owner can share the key. If the folder has no other owner with a device, it cannot be shared with anyone new. Ask whoever still has the folder to share a fresh copy.

I added the folder before the key came, and it says it is locked

It appears under Needs your passphrase on your organisation's page, and its own page under This vault says the same. Once the key has arrived, choose Unlock there.

  • Invite someone to a folderInvite a person to a shared folder by email. Someone new gets an invitation and has the folder as soon as they join; your vault sends them its key.
  • Add a shared folder to this vaultWhen someone shares a folder with you, add it to your vault in one click, or choose where it goes. Your existing notes are never shared by accident.
  • Compare encryption keysCheck that the key you share a folder with really belongs to your collaborator, by comparing fingerprints outside Nectenda, and what a changed key means.