Nextcloud server version: latest docker image on ubuntu 22
nextcloud client: Android Mobile Phone
In nextcloud android app I try to auto upload a custom directory. Any directory is shown as empty unless there are pictures inside. If I choose it only pictures are being uploaded.
Maybe this is intended behaviour on Android? But on my pc’s nextcloud app everything is being uploaded.
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Nextcloud version : 24.0.4
Operating system and version: Ubuntu 22.04
Apache and Php: Docker installation image
I don’t think it has anything to do with the nextcloud server, as the desktop pc app works just fine, also the synchronization of contacts. It appears to be a problem with the app. To reproduce:
Go to settings → automatic upload → custom directory → choose any directory containing files → see how files in the directory are invisible unless they are multimedia files. → choose upload directory → synchronize and see how only multimedia files are being uploaded to nextcloud.server
The apache and nextcloud logs do not look suspicious and as I said, it doesn’t look like the server has any problems.
I think this is working as designed, someone please correct me if I am wrong. The auto upload only detects media files and was originally intended to automatically upload new camera photos. At some point this was extended to all media folders that contain images or videos, and it actually detects them quite reliably on its own through Android’s media indexing feature. My guess is that the “Custom Directory” option was integrated to be able to manually add folders that, for whatever reason, are not automatically detected.
Generally speaking, the Nextcloud mobie app is not meant to backup random content on your phone to your Nextcloud. It’s primarily meant to make the content on your Nextcloud available to your phone, similar to the Google Drive and Google Photos apps. If you want to sync / backup content from your phone to your Nextcloud, I would recommend you to use an app that is designed for this purpose, such as FolderSync Pro.
This is just weird an confusing to me as a user that I cannot just sync everything from my phone. I’m just going to upload over smb then to my nas… makes the app almost useless except for just accessing specific things already on nextcloud.
Well you can of course connect all sorts of external storage loctioans to your Nextloud. But keep in mind that Nextcloud was primarily designed to replace classic file shares and network drives and not to act as a web front-end for them.
Well it’s not useless for me. I can upload and download files, and even edit documents directly in the app. That’s pretty much all I expect from an app like this. It basically works the same way as client apps for other cloud services work, like for example the Google Drive app. However, as I understand it, the devs are not generally opposed to a synchronization feature. But as it is often the case with OSS products, it needs someone who is willing to do the work. 
Here’s a first-hand explanation: Syncing with Android not working. How's this meant to be? - #13 by Andy
if that were the case then i wouldnt have to fall back to smb to keep my data in sync.
Well, then I guess this discussion is getting us nowhere. You already got a link to an official statement. If that means the product is usless to you, that’s unfortunate, but that’s just the way it is, at least for now. Nextcloud covers a lot of usecases for a lot of people, but satisfying everyone will probably never be possible.
Btw. I also mentioned an alternative in a previous post, which does what you want, and there are probably other similar apps out there, that are able to sync to a WebDAV server like Nextcloud. Sure it’s not OSS and does cost you a few bucks. But it’s still better than nothing, i guess.
you linked the one that costs money, they also have a free one https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dk.tacit.android.foldersync.lite I havent set it up yet but the ui looks pretty confusing and not very intuitive. I’m likely just going to set up scripts with rsync and ssh to my nas for this. its unfortunate that the nextcloud app is so limited in syncing things on the phone.
It’s been a while since I’ve used FolderSync. I thought there were limitations in the free version. But apparently the only difference is that the free version contains ads.
Is the previous conclusions from this topic still valid for the app today?
I mean… I would love to automatically upload a whole folder if I wanted to…