After you have logged in as them, look at the black bar on top. It will say your friend's username's Houzz on the right side. Click on that and all of their ideabooks will be right below. You can edit them by clicking on the ideabook you want to edit and pressing "edit ideabook." You can add to it by clicking on "Add to Ideabook" and choosing the appropriate book from your friend's account.

We have just recently reconfigured things so that you won't have to login as someone else to collaborate on an ideabook; stay tuned for more information in the near future!

Ask the other person to open their ideabook, click on the "Sharing" button at the top of their ideabook, and add you as a viewer/editor of that ideabook, by typing in your Houzz user name or your email address and clicking on the "Add" button.
You will receive an email with a link to the ideabook and will also see it in the list of your ideabooks.

Houzzsupport, love the site, and thanks for the answer.

Assume you know that the emails you send offering to share with other users just go to the home page, correct? They don't send you to a view where you can share. Also would be nice (easier) if you could share all your idea books with another user instead of having to share each one or create larger, less targeted idea books. Thanks for a great site!

Hi Chris, I just tested the functionality and it sent me directly to the specific ideabook I shared. Can you send the example of the email you are referring to to support (at) houzz.com so we can check it out?

Sure, will do. Hope it's helpful!

Accessing someone's ideabook is a nightmare

Hi Arcadian, What sort of issues are you having with it?

Has the idea book been shared with you? If so, was it shared with the same email address that is affiliated with your account? If it was, when you click on that link you should go to that ideabook. The ideabook will also be accessible from your own Houzz page with your own idea books.

Did this ever get resolved? I'm having the same issue. A client shared their ideabook and when I click on the link it just takes me to the main houzz page. their ideabook doesn't show up in my ideabook or your houzz tabs in the app either. I have to search for their username to get to their book. Very not useful or intuitive.

Hi Annamaroc,

Was the idea book shared to the same email address that you have associated with the account you are using to access houzz? I just checked your account and I'm not seeing anything shared with it currently.

If you have a different email address on your Houzz account, try changing it to the same email address that the idea book was shared with and then click the link again in your notification to view it. Hope that helps!

Doesn't work. I have two accounts (this is my other and the one the email was sent to) but when I'm logged into the account the email was sent To I still don't get to her idea book without doing a search. Her book doesn't show up in any of the tabs that I can find in my app. I'd love to be able to just click in that email and see it.

Hi Annamoc, can you forward the message you received when you were notified about the idea book being shared to me and I'll take a look? emily(at)houzz.com Thanks!

This problem is now 18 months old. It's almost as good as healthcare.gov !

@Arcadian, if you would like to email me directly with the specific issue you are having, I'm happy to take a look.

Most often any issues with viewing ideabooks come down to a couple possibilities..

1. The ideabook is not shared with the address that is associated with the intended Houzz account.

2. The ideabook hasn't actually been shared, but the person has been invited to join Houzz - leading to a bit of confusion when they join but do not have access to the book directly.