"Storage path" setting is too technical

[jancborchardt]

Right now the storage path has values like "/data/emulated/0" which is suuper technical.

Instead the choice should be for "Data storage" and the choices could be "Internal storage", "SD card" and if there are multiple cards also "SD card 2" etc, each saying how much free space there is on them.

[tobiasKaminsky]

:+1:

[AndyScherzinger]

👍

[tobiasKaminsky]

What do you think?

Ref: https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/802#issuecomment-309372150

but we should in the end offer both /data and /media because now we are reverting back to pre 1.4 so users that wanted to block media indexing will get mad. So the best would be to offer both with the hint for (SD card - media indexed / SD card - not media indexed).

[jancborchardt]

Even as slightly technical user, I don't understand what "media indexed" means. Does it mean "Don't show data in other apps, like Gallery"?

If so, we could put that as a toggle in the bottom of that popup (off by default). But right now this is equally as confusing.

[AndyScherzinger]

I don't understand what "media indexed" means. Does it mean "Don't show data in other apps, like Gallery"?

Exactly and yes it is not easy to understand, a switch seems to be the nicer way to handle it 👍 @tobiasKaminsky that might make this a bit more complicated since you need to have a custom dialog then due to the fact that is is not a simple array chooser anymore.

[jasonbayton]

Not defending this behaviour but it's a pretty common thing to see. Few apps mask the underlying paths that I've seen.

[jancborchardt]

That's where we do things differently to make technology simpler to understand and use. :)

[AndyScherzinger]

@tobiasKaminsky do you already have an implementation for the screenshot you posted?

[tobiasKaminsky]

It was something local, but I cannot find it, maybe I did not even saved it.. :-/

[jancborchardt]

Could we just rename the current display from the technical path to "Internal storage" and "SD card" as mentioned in the original post? ;) The whole »media indexed« thing is a new feature rather than a bugfix and it blocks this small papercut issue.

[AndyScherzinger]

Could we just rename the current display from the technical path to "Internal storage" and "SD card" as mentioned in the original post?

It is imho not that easy :( Afaik you can format a SD card as internal memory so it show up and behaves like internal storage while it is technically/physically still an sd card (!)

[tobiasKaminsky]

This is the reason why newer android version are talking about

• internal
• portable storage, whereas a hard-wired storage is always internal, but a (removable) sdcard can be both:
• internal: only usable in this exact device, allows to move apps onto it
• portable: mainly for file exchange, useful for audio/video, limitations on what to store onto it

[Bigdesaster]

Hi, i've just a suggestion: why not leaving the options to 'intenal' and 'sd-card' and set path to android/media. Then creating a new setting "hide indexing by mediaplayer" which creates or deletes a '.nomedia'-file in the directory? Greets

[comradekingu]

@Bigdesaster "Hide contents from indexing mediaplayers" or "Hide contents from mediaplayer indexation" ?

Having that as a switch that can be toggled seems the most user friendly.

First you select where you want it, then you select whether you want it indexed.

Rather than, finding out what the difference between 4 options is, only to have part of the message repeated for each option

.

[Bigdesaster]

Yeah that was my opinion. How ist would be named finally doesn't matter. It could also bei an extra option outside the data-storage dialog

[comradekingu]

• What other data than data is it possible to store? Since none other than the similarly redundant "file storage", it is the same assumption that the storage is a selection made for the program. One word saved.
• "Internal" is a level of arbitration, (similar to storage path,) that offers nothing. Since it is a selection for storage, there is no need to re-iterate the storage part. One word saved. The gender of "Internal", pointing to storage, is additional contextual information carried over in languages that make use of it.
• The visual representation of dot-to-nearest-100MB is useful for people that don't know the difference, or are unsure, about how a MB relates to a GB. (It is already confusing to not have the 1billion byte SD card referenced as the difference between Gibibyte and GB.)

Edit:

Edit2:

Edit3: I don't really understand why all users should have to be faced with indexation settings just because they are in the business of selecting storage. It is quite arbitrary that Nextcloud happens to move files to a .folder (from what i understand), to hide things. The saner default would maybe be to assume indexation (?) and put the setting as a standalone option elsewhere. Maybe some slowdown would occur, as opposed to just setting it the first time?

[dcbx]

Hello there! Just wanted to ask if one can expect some progress to this storage path thing? I would see me as a rather tech savvy user and I'm really puzzled which path to choose if I want to interact with my files through other apps. @AndyScherzinger sent me here.. thanks btw! :)

https://help.nextcloud.com/t/storage-path-explained/62784/6

[AndyScherzinger]

No progress atm. If @tobiasKaminsky could recall how to distinguish the different path regarding "indexibility" and internal/portable then I could work on it. Else my time is a bit limited these days so I can't cover this alone :(

[dcbx]

Okay, after reading through some similar tickets and Android docs (e.g. https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage ), i think the term "indexation" is misleading as well. Further more i was asking myself "would my parents understand it?" -> No, way!!! ;) So i'd rather choose something like "sharing (or interact?) with other apps". Maybe as full question: "Do you want to share your files with other apps?" Yes, that has not very much to do with "choosing my storage path", but IF i understand the Android docs right, the whole concept of storage path is kind of deprecated and this option would need some programmatically changes anyway. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

[joshtrichards]

This is now Pocket presents the storage choice. When I saw I thought of this issue.

Though it only gave me one choice in this case, it was presented clearly with minimal cognitive load.

[digisus]

Arriving here after just installing NC on a new phone and being unable to just select ANY folder I like as storage location is puzzling to me tbh. Right now, I have to make a choice between four hard to understand options.

I read the entire issue thread and IMHO this discussion is overcomplicating things a lot. I propose to offer a simple file dialog where the user can just choose any folder they like as storage location. The dialog starts in "home", where [Documents] and [Downloads], [DCIM], etc. reside as default because this is familiar to everybody.

From here the user navigates wherever and makes their own choice:

• If they are non-technical, they may create something like [Documents/Nextcloud] or similar.
• If they want to hide the files, they will first of all already know it is possible and maybe jump into [Android] or elsewhere to bury the NC folder somewhere. For this case, the app can give guidance by offering a link "Advanced options": a new window to explain the different options: SD or not, indexable or not, etc. Here, the current options could be listed and the user could tick their preferred adnvanced option.

Both cases require the user to be able to navigate the full tree of folders. Therefore, I suggest to open a normal file dialog by default with the advanced option on special folders.

[jancborchardt]

@tobiasKaminsky we have a full plan and mockup here, this can be gone ahead with right? As per your comment https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/1088#issuecomment-309440072 and my clarification afterwards.

[tobiasKaminsky]

Default: toggle off -> visible