Confusion Between Internal and External Share

Hello everyone,

Although I’ve read the related documentation in the Nextcloud manual, I still can’t fully understand the difference between Internal Share and External Share.

All of our users are authenticated via LDAP. However, when trying to share files/folders, only a few users appear under the Internal section, while the rest show up under External.

This understandably causes confusion among our end users.
Is there a way to completely disable the Internal Share option so that all users appear as External (or so that there is only one list)?

We are currently running the v31.0.6

Thanks in advance!

The internal users are the users within the same Nextcloud instance. If you have single one, then all the shares between users should be internal.

Now, if you share to a mail address, and this user is a regular user of your Nextcloud instance, not sure if in some cases this won’t be linked properly? If for each user with LDAP you link also the mail addresses, this should not happen.
External, if it is not just a public sharing link, are links to other Nextcloud instances (federated share), there a user can read like a mail address username@other-nc-server.example.com.

Thanks for the reply!

The issue is that I only have a single Nextcloud instance.
In the Internal Shares list, I can only search and find a limited number of users and I haven’t been able to figure out what criteria determines which users appear there.
On the other hand, all users are visible under External Shares.

Could this be related to some LDAP setting (e.g. Groups or attributes) that I might have misconfigured or left incomplete?

I’m attaching the configuration for reference.

{
    "system": {
        "instanceid": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "passwordsalt": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "secret": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "trusted_domains": [
            "cloud.domain.gr"
        ],
        "datadirectory": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbtype": "mysql",
        "version": "31.0.6.2",
        "overwrite.cli.url": "https:\/\/cloud.domain.gr",
        "dbname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbhost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbport": "",
        "dbtableprefix": "oc_",
        "mysql.utf8mb4": true,
        "dbuser": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbpassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "installed": true,
        "ldapProviderFactory": "OCA\\User_LDAP\\LDAPProviderFactory",
        "mail_smtpmode": "smtp",
        "mail_smtpsecure": "tls",
        "mail_sendmailmode": "smtp",
        "mail_from_address": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_domain": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpauthtype": "LOGIN",
        "mail_smtpauth": 1,
        "mail_smtphost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpport": "587",
        "mail_smtpname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtppassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "maintenance": false,
        "maintenance_window_start": 3,
        "lost_password_link": "disabled",
        "default_phone_region": "GR",
        "auth.webauthn.enabled": false,
        "loglevel": 2,
        "app_install_overwrite": [
            "occweb"
        ],
        "theme": "",
        "twofactor_enforced": "false",
        "twofactor_enforced_groups": [],
        "twofactor_enforced_excluded_groups": [],
        "activity_expire_days": 30,
        "loglevel_frontend": 4,
        "enable_file_metadata": false,
        "enable_previews": true,
        "simpleSignUpLink.shown": false,
        "log_rotate_size": 104857600,
        "filelocking.enabled": true,
        "memcache.local": "\\OC\\Memcache\\APCu",
        "memcache.locking": "\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis",
        "redis": {
            "host": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
            "port": 0,
            "timeout": 0
        },
        "session_lifetime": 14400,
        "session_keepalive": true,
        "auto_logout": false,
        "remember_login_cookie_lifetime": 0,
        "updater.release.channel": "stable",
        "defaultapp": ""
    },
    "apps": {
        "activity": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "4.0.0",
            "notify_email_calendar": "0",
            "notify_email_calendar_event": "0",
            "notify_email_calendar_todo": "0",
            "notify_email_comments": "0",
            "notify_email_contacts": "0",
            "notify_email_file_changed": "0",
            "notify_email_group_settings": "1",
            "notify_email_public_links": "0",
            "notify_email_remote_share": "0",
            "notify_email_shared": "0",
            "notify_email_systemtags": "0",
            "notify_notification_calendar": "0",
            "notify_notification_calendar_event": "0",
            "notify_notification_calendar_todo": "0",
            "notify_notification_comments": "0",
            "notify_notification_contacts": "0",
            "notify_notification_favorite": "0",
            "notify_notification_file_changed": "0",
            "notify_notification_file_favorite_changed": "0",
            "notify_notification_group_settings": "0",
            "notify_notification_personal_settings": "0",
            "notify_notification_public_links": "0",
            "notify_notification_remote_share": "0",
            "notify_notification_security": "1",
            "notify_notification_shared": "0",
            "notify_notification_systemtags": "0",
            "notify_notification_twofactor_totp": "1",
            "notify_setting_batchtime": "3600",
            "notify_setting_self": "0",
            "notify_setting_selfemail": "0",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "admin_audit": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.21.0",
            "types": "logging"
        },
        "app_api": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "5.0.2",
            "types": ""
        },
        "backgroundjob": {
            "lastjob": "11"
        },
        "bruteforcesettings": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "4.0.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "circles": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "25.0.0",
            "loopback_tmp_scheme": "https",
            "maintenance_run": "0",
            "maintenance_update": "{\"3\":1669924592,\"2\":1669925407,\"1\":1669925706}",
            "migration_22": "1",
            "migration_run": "0",
            "types": "filesystem,dav"
        },
        "cloud_federation_api": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.14.0",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "comments": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.21.0",
            "types": "logging"
        },
        "contactsinteraction": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.12.0",
            "types": "dav"
        },
        "core": {
            "backgroundjobs_mode": "cron",
            "default_encryption_module": "OC_DEFAULT_MODULE",
            "emailTestSuccessful": "1",
            "files_metadata_installed": "1",
            "installed.bundles": "[\"CoreBundle\"]",
            "installedat": "1653670742.4368",
            "lastcron": 1752230701,
            "lastupdateResult": "{\"version\":\"31.0.7.1\",\"versionstring\":\"Nextcloud 31.0.7\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/download.nextcloud.com\\\/server\\\/releases\\\/nextcloud-31.0.7.zip\",\"web\":\"https:\\\/\\\/docs.nextcloud.com\\\/server\\\/31\\\/admin_manual\\\/maintenance\\\/upgrade.html\",\"changes\":\"https:\\\/\\\/updates.nextcloud.com\\\/changelog_server\\\/?version=31.0.7\",\"autoupdater\":\"1\",\"eol\":\"0\"}",
            "lastupdatedat": 1752229078,
            "metadataGenerationDone": "true",
            "moveavatarsdone": "yes",
            "newUser.sendEmail": "yes",
            "previewsCleanedUp": "1",
            "public_files": "files_sharing\/public.php",
            "public_webdav": "dav\/appinfo\/v1\/publicwebdav.php",
            "shareapi_allow_group_sharing": "no",
            "shareapi_allow_resharing": "yes",
            "shareapi_default_expire_date": "yes",
            "shareapi_default_internal_expire_date": "yes",
            "shareapi_default_permission_candelete": "no",
            "shareapi_default_permission_canupdate": "no",
            "shareapi_default_permissions": "1",
            "shareapi_enabled": "yes",
            "shareapi_enforce_expire_date": "no",
            "shareapi_enforce_internal_expire_date": "no",
            "shareapi_enforce_links_password": "no",
            "shareapi_exclude_groups": "no",
            "shareapi_expire_after_n_days": "7",
            "shareapi_internal_expire_after_n_days": "7",
            "theming.variables": "2ee81672a9e8dcae94e266342f3adbce",
            "updater.secret.created": "1667455806",
            "vendor": "nextcloud",
            "files_metadata": {
                "blurhash": {
                    "value": null,
                    "type": "string",
                    "etag": "6620c811e2fa5365867c38cdf941d689",
                    "indexed": false,
                    "editPermission": 0
                }
            },
            "oc.integritycheck.checker": []
        },
        "dashboard": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "7.11.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "dav": {
            "buildCalendarReminderIndex": "yes",
            "buildCalendarSearchIndex": "yes",
            "builtSocialSearchIndex": "yes",
            "chunks_migrated": "1",
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.33.0",
            "regeneratedBirthdayCalendarsForYearFix": "yes",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "encryption": {
            "masterKeyId": "master_6319ff59",
            "publicShareKeyId": "pubShare_6319ff59",
            "recoveryKeyId": "recoveryKey_6319ff59"
        },
        "federatedfilesharing": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.21.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "federation": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.15.0",
            "types": "authentication"
        },
        "files": {
            "default_quota": "80 GB",
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "2.3.1",
            "mimetype_version": "31.0.3.2",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "files_downloadlimit": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "4.0.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "files_external": {
            "allow_user_mounting": "yes",
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.23.0",
            "types": "filesystem",
            "user_mounting_backends": "sftp,\\OC\\Files\\Storage\\SFTP_Key"
        },
        "files_pdfviewer": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "4.0.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "files_reminders": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.4.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "files_rightclick": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.6.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "files_sharing": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "incoming_server2server_share_enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.23.1",
            "lookupServerEnabled": "no",
            "lookupServerUploadEnabled": "no",
            "outgoing_server2server_share_enabled": "no",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "files_trashbin": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.21.0",
            "types": "filesystem,dav"
        },
        "files_versions": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.24.0",
            "types": "filesystem,dav"
        },
        "firstrunwizard": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "2.14.0",
            "types": "logging"
        },
        "groupfolders": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "19.1.2",
            "types": "filesystem,dav"
        },
        "keeweb": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "0.6.21",
            "types": ""
        },
        "logreader": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "4.0.0",
            "levels": "11111",
            "shownLevels": "[2,3,4]",
            "types": "logging"
        },
        "lookup_server_connector": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.19.0",
            "types": "authentication"
        },
        "nextcloud_announcements": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "3.0.0",
            "notification_groups": "[\"admin\",\"NOC\"]",
            "pub_date": "Thu, 24 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0200",
            "types": "logging"
        },
        "notifications": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "4.0.0",
            "types": "logging"
        },
        "oauth2": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.19.1",
            "types": "authentication"
        },
        "occweb": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "0.1.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "password_policy": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "3.0.0",
            "types": "authentication"
        },
        "photos": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "2.0.0",
            "types": "dav,authentication"
        },
        "polls": {
            "allAccessGroups": "[]",
            "allowAllAccess": false,
            "allowCombo": true,
            "allowPollCreation": true,
            "allowPollDownload": true,
            "allowPublicShares": true,
            "autoArchive": true,
            "autoArchiveOffset": "30",
            "autoDelete": false,
            "autoDeleteOffset": 30,
            "comboGroups": "[]",
            "disclaimer": "",
            "enabled": "yes",
            "imprintUrl": "https:\/\/www.domain.gr\/el\/content\/prostasia-prosopikon-dedomenon",
            "installed_version": "8.0.6",
            "legalTermsInEmail": false,
            "navigationPollsInList": true,
            "pollCreationGroups": "[\"NOC\"]",
            "pollDownloadGroups": "[]",
            "privacyUrl": "https:\/\/www.domain.gr\/el\/content\/prostasia-prosopikon-dedomenon",
            "publicSharesGroups": "[]",
            "showLogin": true,
            "showMailAddresses": true,
            "showMailAddressesGroups": "[]",
            "types": "",
            "unrestrictedOwner": true,
            "unrestrictedOwnerGroups": [],
            "updateType": "noPolling",
            "useActivity": true,
            "useSiteLegalTerms": false
        },
        "privacy": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.9.0",
            "readableLocation": "gr",
            "types": ""
        },
        "profile": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.0.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "provisioning_api": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.21.0",
            "types": "prevent_group_restriction"
        },
        "recommendations": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.4.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "related_resources": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "2.0.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "serverinfo": {
            "cached_count_appdata_files": 184855,
            "cached_count_filecache": 1056722,
            "cached_count_storages": 1297,
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "3.0.0",
            "size_appdata_storage": 930842025,
            "types": ""
        },
        "settings": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.14.0",
            "profile_enabled_by_default": "0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "sharebymail": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.21.0",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "support": {
            "SwitchUpdaterServerHasRun": "yes",
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.8.0",
            "types": "session"
        },
        "survey_client": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.13.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "suspicious_login": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "4.3.0",
            "types": "authentication"
        },
        "systemtags": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.21.1",
            "types": "logging"
        },
        "text": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "5.0.0",
            "types": "dav",
            "workspace_available": "0"
        },
        "theming": {
            "background_color": "#762124",
            "cachebuster": "49",
            "disable-user-theming": false,
            "enabled": "yes",
            "faviconMime": "image\/png",
            "installed_version": "2.6.1",
            "logoDimensions": "273x150",
            "logoMime": "image\/png",
            "name": "domain Cloud",
            "primary_color": "#762124",
            "slogan": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
            "types": "logging",
            "url": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***"
        },
        "twofactor_backupcodes": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.20.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "twofactor_totp": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "13.0.0-dev.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "updatenotification": {
            "core": "31.0.7.1",
            "enabled": "yes",
            "groupfolders": "19.1.2",
            "installed_version": "1.21.0",
            "notify_groups": "[\"admin\"]",
            "polls": "8.0.6",
            "related_resources": "1.0.4",
            "types": "",
            "update_check_errors": 0
        },
        "user_ldap": {
            "background_sync_interval": "33103",
            "background_sync_offset": "0",
            "background_sync_prefix": "s01",
            "cleanUpJobOffset": "900",
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.22.0",
            "s01_lastChange": "1747488348",
            "s01has_memberof_filter_support": "0",
            "s01home_folder_naming_rule": "",
            "s01last_jpegPhoto_lookup": "0",
            "s01ldap_agent_password": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
            "s01ldap_attributes_for_group_search": "",
            "s01ldap_attributes_for_user_search": "displayname",
            "s01ldap_backup_host": "",
            "s01ldap_backup_port": "636",
            "s01ldap_base": "ou=People,dc=domain,dc=gr",
            "s01ldap_base_groups": "ou=People,dc=domain,dc=gr",
            "s01ldap_base_users": "ou=People,dc=domain,dc=gr",
            "s01ldap_cache_ttl": "600",
            "s01ldap_configuration_active": "1",
            "s01ldap_default_ppolicy_dn": "",
            "s01ldap_display_name": "displayname",
            "s01ldap_dn": "uid=roservice,ou=services,dc=domain,dc=gr",
            "s01ldap_dynamic_group_member_url": "",
            "s01ldap_email_attr": "mail",
            "s01ldap_experienced_admin": "0",
            "s01ldap_expert_username_attr": "",
            "s01ldap_expert_uuid_group_attr": "",
            "s01ldap_expert_uuid_user_attr": "",
            "s01ldap_ext_storage_home_attribute": "",
            "s01ldap_gid_number": "gidNumber",
            "s01ldap_group_display_name": "title",
            "s01ldap_group_filter": "",
            "s01ldap_group_filter_mode": "1",
            "s01ldap_group_member_assoc_attribute": "gidNumber",
            "s01ldap_groupfilter_groups": "",
            "s01ldap_groupfilter_objectclass": "",
            "s01ldap_host": "ldaps:\/\/ds.domain.gr",
            "s01ldap_login_filter": "(|(uid=%uid)(mail=%uid))",
            "s01ldap_login_filter_mode": "1",
            "s01ldap_loginfilter_attributes": "",
            "s01ldap_loginfilter_email": "1",
            "s01ldap_loginfilter_username": "1",
            "s01ldap_matching_rule_in_chain_state": "unknown",
            "s01ldap_nested_groups": "0",
            "s01ldap_override_main_server": "",
            "s01ldap_paging_size": "500",
            "s01ldap_port": "636",
            "s01ldap_quota_attr": "",
            "s01ldap_quota_def": "",
            "s01ldap_tls": "0",
            "s01ldap_turn_off_cert_check": "1",
            "s01ldap_turn_on_pwd_change": "0",
            "s01ldap_user_avatar_rule": "default",
            "s01ldap_user_display_name_2": "",
            "s01ldap_user_filter_mode": "1",
            "s01ldap_userfilter_groups": "",
            "s01ldap_userfilter_objectclass": "eduPerson",
            "s01ldap_userlist_filter": "(|(eduPersonAffiliation=staff)(eduPersonAffiliation=faculty))",
            "s01use_memberof_to_detect_membership": "1",
            "types": "authentication"
        },
        "user_status": {
            "enabled": "no",
            "installed_version": "1.5.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "user_usage_report": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "2.0.0",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "viewer": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "4.0.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "weather_status": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.11.0",
            "types": ""
        },
        "webhook_listeners": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "1.2.0",
            "types": "filesystem"
        },
        "workflowengine": {
            "enabled": "yes",
            "installed_version": "2.13.0",
            "types": "filesystem"
        }
    }
}

You didn’t use the setting to allow sharing only within your own group, or exclude other groups?

If you can find the difference between the people that show up on the internal share and external share …

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I’m currently making changes to the LDAP group-related settings in Nextcloud.
Do I need to do anything for these changes to take effect?
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