File handling intuitiveness

[ET0269]

I used to be an Owncloud user and switched because all I ever heard was how much better Nextcloud was. So, I have a few questions. I sure hope someone can make sense of the way I’m trying to explain this. I’m using a Samsung s10, Android v10 with Nextcloud v3.10.1 If you have pics or videos on auto upload with the picture to remain in original folder you get two copies, one in the device camera folder and one in the Nextcloud upload folder on the server. It does not sync to that original picture or video in the original camera folder. If you sync or download it, Nextcloud creates a new file in the Nextcloud folder on the phone and links those. You now have three copies. So, if you “delete local copy” it deletes it out of the Nextcloud folder on the phone, leaving a copy on the server and a remaining original copy in the device camera folder. So, you have two copies, not linked/sync’d and it could get confusing.

Owncloud never did that. It would just link itself to the original file wherever you wanted it to go, and the main folder on the phone, was at the top of the system named example Owncloud\Camera\Pictures So, if you ever “deleted local only” it would remove it from the phone and leave it on the server. And if you ever downloaded it again it would put it back it the same folder where it was on the phone.

On Nextcloud, if you configure auto upload to move the file to the Nextcloud app folder, it will sync the picture from the server to Nextcloud folder on the phone and that will be the only copy on the device so when you delete local copy it wipes it off the phone only. However, because the pics or videos are not in the original camera folder, they will not show in the phone gallery app. So that’s still not perfect, but better.

The other thing, is the Nextcloud folder is filed very deep in the system…takes a lot of digging to get to it. I haven’t found a way to create your own folder or pathway, they just give you 4 options which are all very long and deep.

Now, so fine and dandy, have Nextcloud move the file to its app folder, as it will link the pictures/videos there. However, once photos or other docs are transferred into the Nextcloud app folders, you cannot select multiple files to send through email or text. Unless of course they are on your phone and you dig through the mess of trees to get at them. And In fact, the email or SMS app can not look at or find the Nextcloud folders. There must be a way to change this???

[ET0269]

Why has no one picked this issue #5417 up?? It's been 2 yrs I'm now on a s21 and this issue still exists

[joshtrichards]

Why has no one picked this issue #5417 up?? It's been 2 yrs I'm now on a s21 and this issue still exists

Hi @ET0269 - 👋 Thanks for your contributions. Let me try to respond as directly and helpfully as I can.

It's probably because:

• somehow you managed to bypass the form used for creating new Issues (which asks very specific questions for both bug reports or enhancement requests and is necessary to be able to process them efficiently) [It's possible you did without realizing it - there are some gaps that bypass it inadvertently through no fault of the submitter]
• your "Issue" is really a mixture of something like 2-3 distinct matters (most, if not all, of which are covered elsewhere in existing Issues dedicated to each matter individually)
• your initial submission reads a little like a stream of consciousness note so there is a lot to wade through all at once for the reader
• this isn't a help forum but a place for concise (ideally) structured bug reports or enhancement ideas for developer consumption and discussion
• there won't always be an individualized response, but all Issues are read
• people are busy
• this is an open source project

I read through most of your submission to try to figure out how to categorize and process it. I still ended up indecisive. I finally decided to just respond like this.

My suggestions:

1. Use the Bug reporting or Enhancement forms offered when you click on New issue
2. Break your submission above up into individual issues focused on specific ideas/problems
3. If you feel some of your matters are linked or related that's fine: still try to break them down a bit (then submit them separately and refer the respective issue # of the others where it makes sense to do so)

If you want to save developer time (i.e. so that they can focus their valuable time on fixing bugs and implementing features) please also:

• do some quick searches here (before submitting) for existing open Issues covering the same matter. This will avoid having devs waste time processing duplicate reports (but it's okay if you overlook some; it happens + sometimes it's hard to track down similar Issues that others word differently, etc.)
• check/post general support queries to the Nextcloud Help Forum rather than here