---
sidebar_position: 4
title: Managing shares
description: View share details, modify permissions, and manage shared database access.
---
import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';

## Getting details about a share

You can learn more about a specific share that you've created by using [`DESCRIBE SHARE`](/sql-reference/motherduck-sql-reference/describe-share.md) command. For example:

<Tabs>
<TabItem value="SQL" label="SQL">

```sql
-- if you are the share owner, use the database name
DESCRIBE SHARE "duckshare";

-- if you are the share viewer, use the full url
DESCRIBE SHARE "md:_share/sample_data/23b0d623-1361-421d-ae77-62d701d471e6";
```

</TabItem>
<TabItem value="UI" label="UI">

In the UI you can roll over a share to see a tooltip that tells you the share owner, when it was last updated, and access scope.

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

## Listing Shares

You can list the shares you have created via the  [`LIST SHARES`](/sql-reference/motherduck-sql-reference/list-shares.md) statement. For example:

<Tabs>
<TabItem value="SQL" label="SQL">

```sql
LIST SHARES;
```

</TabItem>
<TabItem value="UI" label="UI">

1. You can see shares that you've created under "Shares I've created".
2. You can find **Discoverable** **Organization** shares that members of your Organization created under "Shared with me".

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

To view the URLs of shares created by others that you have currently attached, use the [`SHOW ALL DATABASES`](/sql-reference/motherduck-sql-reference/show-databases/) command. The `fully_qualified_name` column gives you the share URL of the attached share.

## Deleting a share

Shares can be deleted with the  [`DROP SHARE`](/sql-reference/motherduck-sql-reference/drop-share.md) or `DROP SHARE IF EXISTS` method. For example:

Users who have [`ATTACH`](/sql-reference/motherduck-sql-reference/attach.md)-ed it will lose access.

<Tabs>
<TabItem value="SQL" label="SQL">

```sql
DROP SHARE "share1";
```

</TabItem>
<TabItem value="UI" label="UI">

1. Roll over the share you'd like to delete.
2. Click on the "trident" on the right side.
3. Select "Drop".
4. Confirm.

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

## Updating a share

Sharing a database creates a point-in-time snapshot of the database at the time it is shared.
To publish changes, you need to explicitly run `UPDATE SHARE <share name>`.

When updating a `SHARE` with the same database, the URL does not change.


<Tabs>
<TabItem value="SQL" label="SQL">

```sql
UPDATE SHARE <share name>;
```

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

In the following example database 'mydb' was previously shared by creating a share 'myshare', and the database 'mydb' has been updated since. Owner of the database would like their colleagues to receive the new version of this database:

<Tabs>
<TabItem value="SQL" label="SQL">

```sql
# 'myshare' was previously created on the database 'mydb'
UPDATE SHARE "myshare";
```

If you lost your database share url, you can use the `LIST SHARES` command to list all your share or `DESCRIBE SHARE <share name>` to get specific details about a given share name.

</TabItem>
</Tabs>

## Editing/Altering a share

You can change the configuration of shares you've created in the UI. SQL operation `ALTER SHARE` is in the works.

<Tabs>

<TabItem value="UI" label="UI">

1. Roll over the share you'd like to edit.
2. Click on the "trident" on the right side.
3. Select "Alter".
4. Change the share configuration as you see fit.
5. Confirm "Alter share".

**Error handling:** If you don't see the trident icon, you may not have permission to edit this share.

</TabItem>
</Tabs>



---

## Docs feedback

MotherDuck accepts optional user-submitted feedback about this page at `POST https://motherduck.com/docs/api/feedback/agent`.
For agents and automated tools, feedback submission should be user-confirmed before sending.

Payload:

```json
{
  "page_path": "/key-tasks/sharing-data/managing-shares/",
  "page_title": "Managing shares",
  "text": "<the user's feedback, max 2000 characters>",
  "source": "<optional identifier for your interface, for example 'claude.ai' or 'chatgpt'>"
}
```

`page_path` and `text` are required; `page_title` and `source` are optional. Responses: `200 {"feedback_id": "<uuid>"}`, `400` for malformed payloads, and `429` when rate-limited.