[Enhancement] Remove files from phone after upload

[Bugsbane]

I mainly use ownCloud as a place to store and share photos and videos. I like to use high quality compression settings, meaning my phone uses it's storage space quickly.

Given that I already use instant upload, I would be helpful if there was an option to remove files successfully uploaded (especially by instant upload) so that I could avoid constantly running out of space and having to manually delete files that have already been uploaded to ownCloud.

[davivel]

Do you mean completely removing the picture of the device? Or are you talking about #346?

[Bugsbane]

Yes, I mean completely removing the image to free up space on the device. Obviously there would need to be sufficient checks to make sure that everything had uploaded correctly first.

My use case is that I have plenty of bandwidth on my phone plan, but limited storage space on my device. I'd like to always have space on my device by having media instantly upload to my ownCloud and be removed from my phone. I would like the convenience of not having to keep manually checking that media has been uploaded and then manually removing it every day or so from my device.

[davivel]

So, this is a different to the usual requirement. Similar context to #588: low storage, high bandwith. Sound like a policy to take have in mind.

[jancborchardt]

This seems to be a duplicate of https://github.com/owncloud/android/issues/346

[Bugsbane]

I'm not sure this is a duplicate.

As far as I can tell, #346 is about not duplicating uploaded files on the device so there aren't 2 copies on the local device. That is is definitely needed for my usecase, however this issue was about removing the original copy from the device after use.

Right now, uploaded files exist twice on the local device.

346 would make sure they only existed once.

In this issue I want them to not exist at all (on the local device).

[tobiasKaminsky]

You are correct. Re-opening it.

[tobiasKaminsky]

@Bugsbane with the current version you could just delete your instantupload folder from time to time. Is this enough for you? Else we could a third option to "original file will be..." called "deleted. @jancborchardt @davivel

[Bugsbane]

I see in the beta app, there's an option that says "Original file will be.. Moved to the app folder". If " the app folder " means the ownCloud instant upload folder and moved is being used in the normal meaning of the word (ie not duplicated), and if uploads can be relied on to upload every file requested eventually, ( #919? ) then as far as I can see, my use case should already be covered without needing to manually go in and delete anything.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something though.

[tobiasKaminsky]

This is also in current version. And yeah, your assumptions are all correct.

[Bugsbane]

Cool. Well, sounds like we can close this then, as it seems the functionality I was asking for has been implemented...

[tobiasKaminsky]

Please try it first and confirm that it is working they way you want it :)

[Bugsbane]

Will do. I'm actually having some non oc related issues with my server at the moment that make this difficult, but when they're resolved, I'll give it a shot.

[PanicDriven]

From my understanding of this issue / request, the op (Bugsbane) is wanting an option to have the files he uploads from from his mobile app (whether it be instantupload or manual upload) to be deleted automatically once it's successfully uploaded. If this is correct, then this is an function i really want too. But i'm confused at how the original requested function has been implemented by "Original file will be.. Moved to the app folder" as this still stores the uploaded file on the local storage of the device. unless this was what Bugsbane was wanting the whole time and i misunderstood.

I have a decent amount of users (family and friends) using my OwnCloud server. My issue is that their devices have an extremely small amount of local storage space, But they all have unlimited mobile data. (DirecTV & AT&T customers like myself) We all use OwnCloud for storage. All files uploaded are not desired to be stored on our devices. Currently i only find the option (beta and final app) to keep the file in its original location and copy it to the com.owncloud dir or to just move it to the com.owncloud dir. We currently have to delete the local data manually every time, which is very frustrating and almost makes the app unusable.

[Bugsbane]

You're completely correct @PanicDriven... I did mean for the images to be completely deleted from the local device after they had been confirmed as having been successfully uploaded to ownCloud. My usecase is exactly as the one you described for your family and friends. I don't want the files taking up space on my device, but rather be immediately uploaded and deleted locally.

Accordingly, now that I've tried the "move" option and found that it just moves it to a different folder, still on my local device, I agree that the current implementation does not meet the usecase outlined in my original post. (Sorry whoever developed it...)

[PanicDriven]

Hopefully we will be able to come to an agreement with @tobiasKaminsky about getting this feature implemented as an option. I'll do the most i can to contribute.

[davivel]

Well, that's why this issue keeps open, it still was not satisfied :) .

I also think that an option to remove after upload would make sense, specially for instant uploads.

Meanwhile, maybe you find useful next "trick"; if you enable the option "move into OC folder", later you can open the OC app and delete locally all the pictures with the action "Remove" on the parent folder containing them all, and selecting the option "Local only" in the dialog next. Not a solution, but at least you won't need to delete every file individually, and the path is easier to find that the path of the camera app in a file browser.

[stratoss]

I'm checkout out OwnCloud at the moment, and really interested is this functionality implemented already?

[davigonz]

I'm checkout out OwnCloud at the moment, and really interested is this functionality implemented already?

Hi @stratoss , it is not implemented yet but contributions are always welcome 😉