Nextcloud

Nexcloud is a software used to share files between users and save them online. It's the right choice of tool if you want to save big files or send them to any user on the internet, share documents with other user, or make backups of work files.

Files stored on Nextcloud can be accessed via the web interface, or by synchronizing them on your computer by configuring the Nexcloud desktop client. The later option is preferred, as it involves less operations to save files online, and you can be ensured the files are synchronized just by saving them on your computer.

Online Access

Nextcloud is available at https://cloud.frog-collective.org.

Nextcloud desktop client configuration

Linux installation

Installation instruction are intended for Debian / Ubuntu running Gnome. If you are not on such a distribution or not using Gnome, or if you don't known what it means, feel free to ask for help on the help channel at [matrix channel incoming one day yolo] or by writing at help@collectivit.org. That said, for Debian / Ubuntu users, here is how you can configure a local folder to be synchronized with Nextcloud :

First, install the nextcloud-desktop package : in a terminal, execute the following command :

sudo apt install nextcloud-dekstop

When the installation is done, launch the client by typing Alt-F2 typing "nextcloud" in the prompt, then enter. The nextcloud configuration window should open. For the next steps, go to the "Client configuration" section.

Client Configuration

If you correctly followed the steps to install the Nextcloud client and launched it, you should see the following window :

First step is to log in your CollectivIT account. To do so, click "Log In".

In the Server Address field, enter "https://cloud.frog-collective.com" and click "Next". Your browser should be opened and asking you to log in your Nextcloud account. Use your CollectivIT account to do so, when it's done go back to the nexcloud client configuration :

You can accept the default settings, choose the folder where the Nextcloud files will be saved, and select only some folders of your online storage to be sychronized by selecting the appropiate entries. When it's all setup, click "Connect". Nextcloud should start syncing the remote files to the local folder :

For now on, any modification you make in the Nextcloud folder will be automatically synchronized with the online storage, and visible by other users if they are allowed to do so.

Advanced Configuration

Folder Sync Connection configuration

The Nextcloud desktop client allows to synchronize different folders to different places on your hard drive. It can be usefull if you store both personal and shared files, and want them to be synchronized in different folders. To configure a folder connection, open the Nextcloud desktop client. Click on the dropdown next to your account name on the top left :

Click the "settings" menu.

The folder connection already configured are shown in this place. If you followed the "Client Configuration" guide, an entry should already be in the list. To configure a new folder connection, click "Add Folder Sync Connection".

Select the folder where you want your files to be synced on your computer and click next.

Select the remote folder to synchronize in the folder previously configured, click next again. If you want to exclude some subfolders from the synchronization, unselect them in the next window :

Click "Add Sync Connection". You can start adding and editing files, they will be saved in the remote configured folder.