Option to specify which mobile folder to sync

[dbrand666]

It looks like EasySync is currently syncing (or trying to sync) the entire "Internal shared storage" on the phone to the DAV folder you specify. Some might prefer to have more control over which folders are synced.

[phpbg]

Thanks for your feedback.

Indeed the easy part of easysync is that you do not have to configure folders. The whole "user" files are synced (ie media files and downloaded files).

There are already existing sync app where you can setup per folder sync.

I am looking for the simplest user experience possible.

• Choosing folders looks complicated (but you may suggest your ux flow)
• maybe toogles such as Synchronize pictures, Synchronize downloads, Synchronize audio would be simpler/enough

What do you think? Let's collect more feedback.

[Surendrajat]

I know it'll be not so easy but I really like how Autosync does it.

[needthisforctf]

@phpbg, I think toggles you mentioned are a good way to approach this, but additionally you can:

• add an «advanced» toggle that lets you add the folder by entering the full path. This way you avoid making folder selection UX while still keeping the ability to add folders
• another way would be to add a toggle for /storage/Sync folder. Usually, I don't want to sync anything and everything (especially Downloads folder) to Nextcloud, I just want to sync a specific folder there that has all the stuff I need
• also, users of Nextcloud are usually tech-savvy enough to not be bothered by folder selection UX, so I'd say go with it, this is the most versatile option so far

The current form of the app that syncs anything and everything will just turn my Nextcloud into a dumpster fire, so as much as I want to try the easysync out, I can't while this issue is there. Thanks for doing the crucial work to address #19 instead of Nextcloud team, keep it going!

[phpbg]

@needthisforctf I understand that you would exclude your downloads files. But can you give me more real life examples of other folders you would include/exclude?

BTW you can select a specific folder on your Nextcloud instance to sync your phone with. You don't sync your whole Nextcloud instance with your phone (don't know if this was clear enough)...

[needthisforctf]

But can you give me more real life examples of other folders you would include/exclude?

The readme says «if it's displayed in gallery — it'll sync». Do I want a quick screenshot I took to show someone something on a chat app to be synced? Do I want every single saved meme synced? Not really. Do I want to sync all 8 shots of the same photo automatically? Unlikely.

Movies folder is often used to download something to watch later where there will be no Internet — and that's a phone-specific thing since mobile data is expensive, there isn't much reason to save it to Nextcloud, especially if that's a cache of a thing I already have on Jellyfin or something. Same goes for audiobooks and podcasts — usually these are caches and I don't want to transfer the cache to the cloud.

About recordings — call recordings on some devices go there. It's not legal in every jurisdiction, so if your cloud instance is in a country where it's not legal, but you are in a country where it is — you might theoretically have problems with law. I also see no reason at all to sync notification sounds — these are specific to the phone and usually come as a part of the ROM. Same goes for alarms. Some of these folders are pretty much always empty and get created automatically for legacy reasons and there is no point keeping them in cloud.

In general, the whole idea of syncing default folders doesn't work, because apps save their stuff in random places and often choose to create folders of their own instead of using the ones that are there. It's way better to let the user choose which specific folders he wants synced.

[bohwaz]

Yes, it seems like a great app, but our WebDAV root is shared between users, so we don't want to share all of our phone data, just a few work directories from WebDAV :)

For example I want to be able to sync the "accounting" folder but not the "user messages" folder, and be able to choose where it is synced on the phone storage.

[phpbg]

I think adding toggles Synchronize pictures, Synchronize downloads, Synchronize audio would address most of your uses cases while keeping simplicity.

But I don't know what would happen to already synchronized files if you change the toggle. For example say you enabled all toggles, started sync, then disable syncing downloads...

[bohwaz]

I would expect files to be left as they are, on both sides.

But it wouldn't be enough: for example I want to synchronize my audiobooks, but not my music library, I want to sync my photos but not my screenshots, etc.

[citizenserious]

But can you give me more real life examples of other folders you would include/exclude?

I would like to synchronize my backups from NeoBackup and Signal (:

[phpbg]

I would like to synchronize my backups from NeoBackup and Signal (:

Just store your Signal backup in a synced folder, say Download/Signal, and it will be synced.

If NeoBackup allows to select any folder then it should also work.

[needthisforctf]

Just store your Signal backup in a synced folder, say Download/Signal, and it will be synced.

Not every program works with this approach, some have hard-coded backup paths. Also, since now we have granual file access in Android, I don't really want to save my backups or other precious stuff in /Downloads where every app can see it.

[OmlineEditor]

you need to make a more convenient way to select a folder for synchronization, now you can only specify the path there with your hands. it is not convenient, you need to make a folder selection through a convenient menu.

[phpbg]

you need to make a more convenient way to select a folder for synchronization, now you can only specify the path there with your hands. it is not convenient, you need to make a folder selection through a convenient menu.

I agree on this, but that's a different feature request. This specific issue is about selecting which folder are synced (instead of syncing everything)

[citizenserious]

Maybe it could be possible to make such a feature optional for "advanced users" so the idea of easysync could stay the same (;

[OmlineEditor]

advanced functions need to be added here, without them it is impossible to conveniently and fully use the program

[h0m3]

Thanks for your feedback.

Indeed the easy part of easysync is that you do not have to configure folders. The whole "user" files are synced (ie media files and downloaded files).

There are already existing sync app where you can setup per folder sync.

I am looking for the simplest user experience possible.

* Choosing folders looks complicated (but you may suggest your ux flow)

* maybe toogles such as `Synchronize pictures`, `Synchronize downloads`, `Synchronize audio` would be simpler/enough

What do you think? Let's collect more feedback.

I dont want to sound like an asshole by asking this here but I've searched a lot and didn't find anything. Do you know another Open Source sync app that supports WebDAV? I really need to specify which folder I want to sync because of stuff like WhatsApp.

[phpbg]

Do you know another Open Source sync app that supports WebDAV? I really need to specify which folder I want to sync because of stuff like WhatsApp.

I don't know any which is open source.

You can configure WhatsApp to keep media files private and not put them in your gallery (if that's what you want)...

[bohwaz]

Same, there is no open source WebDAV sync tool on Android, and allowing to select what we want to sync would make this app more useful, but if not, maybe we should consider a fork?

[phpbg]

Why would you fork? If you are willing to contribute just send a pull request.

Right now I think the most simple and easy to implement would be to have an option to exclude folders. By default, everything will be synced, unless you explicitely exclude some folders.

For example, you could exclude the whole downloads folder, or the whatsapp images folder.

What do you think?

[bohwaz]

Sorry I understood that you were opposed to including this feature in EasySync.

Exluding: that's a good idea, but I don't think that's enough. If you want to only sync one folder, manually excluding everything else by checking other folders sounds cumbersome.

[bohwaz]

Also, my usage would be to sync a work-related folder, so none of my personal phone directories should be synced.

[phpbg]

Work is ongoing:

https://github.com/phpbg/easysync/pull/37

[OmlineEditor]

Work is ongoing:

is it possible to specify other folder paths in this list? I want to point out the right path for me myself

[phpbg]

is it possible to specify other folder paths in this list? I want to point out the right path for me myself

No, it will show you the whole list of synchronizable folders, and you will just have to toggle it on or off. I'll try to also show remote folders too.

[phpbg]

Hi all, a new release is published as beta testing in playstore. Feel free to try it and report back. I will also publish it on the free version today

[phpbg]

Released with 1.12