How to use boromore

A quick tour of what's here and how the pieces fit together.

Organizations and accounts

Everyone in boromore belongs to one organization — your household, club, or building. Everything you create (lists, inventory, supplies) is shared with everyone else in that organization.

Admins can invite and remove members, and manage the organization's settings and connections to other organizations. Being an admin is a per-person setting, not a special account type.
There's no public sign-up. An admin invites you by generating a one-time link and sharing it with you directly; opening it lets you set your own password.
Forgot your password? Ask an admin to generate a one-time password reset link for you the same way — there's no "forgot password" email, since boromore doesn't send email.

Shopping lists

Make as many named shopping lists as you like ("Groceries", "Hardware store", ...). Every list is fully shared — anyone in your organization can add, check off, or remove items. Checking an item off doesn't delete it; it moves to a struck-through "checked off" section so you can see what's already been picked up, until someone clears it.

Type an item and, if you need more than one, set the number next to it. If the item is already on the list, the number is added to what's there, so adding Milk twice gives you Milk ×2. If it was checked off, it moves back up to the active list, with the note it had and the quantity you entered.

Anyone can edit an item, whether it's checked off or not: tap Edit to change its name, note or quantity. That's handy when someone writes "the kids' favourite cereal" because they can't remember the brand, and someone else fixes it to the right one.

A shopping list. Tick an item when you've picked it up: it moves to the struck-through section instead of disappearing, until someone clears it. Milk has a quantity of 2, and every item has an Edit link.

Gift lists

Gift lists work the opposite way round from shopping lists: you add things you'd like to receive, but you can't see who's claimed them — that's hidden from the owner so gifts stay a surprise. Everyone else in your organization can see your list and claim items so nobody buys the same thing twice.

What the owner sees

What everyone else sees

The same gift list from two sides. The owner can add, edit and remove items but never sees whether anything has been claimed. Everyone else can claim items and comment, so nobody buys the same gift twice.

Anyone other than the list's owner can leave a comment on an item — handy for coordinating who's buying what, or adding details like "I'll get this one, don't worry about it." Items can also carry a note (size, color, a link to buy) from whoever added them.

The owner can edit or remove an item at any time, for example to fix a typo or after changing their mind. The owner never sees whether an item has been claimed, so they aren't warned either way; instead, anyone who claimed or commented on an item is told when it is changed or removed, and a claim stays in place when an item is edited so nobody buys a duplicate. If a whole list is deleted, people who had claimed something or commented are told too. Notices stay at the top of every page until you dismiss them, and are cleared after 30 days.

When the owner changes or removes an item you have claimed or commented on, you get a notice at the top of every page with a link to the list. Your claim stays in place.

Managed profiles

For people who can't have their own boromore account — young kids, for example — create a managed profile for them instead. A managed profile has its own gift lists, but no login of its own.

Each managed profile is looked after by one or more members you choose as its managers. Managing a profile doesn't mean "switching" into it — you stay signed in as yourself, but you can create gift lists for that profile and edit or add items to its lists, the same as if they were your own. Anyone you add as a manager gets the same access.

Inventory

Track things your organization owns and lends out — tools, camping gear, and so on. Anyone can take an item, reserve one that's currently out, or return it. Mark an item "shared" to make it visible and borrowable by organizations you've connected with, while everything else stays private to your own. Other organizations see which organization has an item, not who. If you stop sharing an item or disconnect, anything already borrowed stays with the borrower until they return it, but reservations are released and the reserver is told. An item that is out on loan can't be removed until it is marked returned. Give an item a category and a location to find it faster: the list is grouped by category, and the search box above it matches names, categories and locations. Other organizations see an item's category, but its location only if you tick "Show the location" on that item. An item can have a photo too; it is shown as a small picture next to the name, and connected organizations see it if the item is shared. Each take is logged: open an item's History to see who had it and when (your own organization only; other organizations appear by name, and entries are removed a year after the return).

An item is available, reserved or borrowed. Reserve it to call dibs, Take it when you pick it up, and Return it when it is back. You can also Take an available item straight away.

Supplies

Track stock levels of things you keep around and use up, like batteries or light bulbs. Use one to count it down, restock to count it back up, and set a low-stock threshold to flag when you're running low — with a shortcut to add a low item straight to one of your shopping lists.

Count a supply down with Use and up with Restock. Below its low-stock limit it is flagged, with a shortcut to put it on a shopping list.

Connecting with another organization

Admins can connect two organizations together — for example, to share tools with family in another household. Generate an invite link and share it with the other organization's admin. Each link works once, expires after 7 days, and can be revoked until it is used. Once accepted, items either side has marked "shared" become visible and borrowable by the other. Disconnecting only blocks future visibility — it doesn't claw back anything already borrowed.

An admin creates an invite link
They share it with an admin of the other organization
That admin opens it and clicks Connect
Items marked shared appear on both sides

What Household sees

What Neighbours sees

Two connected organizations. Each one decides which items to share. The other side finds them under Shared library, with the owner's name on a badge. Items that are not marked shared stay private, and shopping lists, gift lists and supplies are never shared.

Your account

From the account page you can update your name, language, and password, and switch between light and dark mode.