Group Folders - Am I missing something? Is there a better option available?

[just]

I’ve setup Group Folders for 100+ users and am unsure of if it is the right choice.

• No trash or versioning support for deleted files
• Files Automated Tags not supported
• Sharing Group Folders doesn’t work

So far Group Folders have great group permissions, but seem to lack all the basic functionality of trash, versioning, sharing and support for our automated tag flow for retention time on specific groups. Curious on a different setup that would support the automated tags; suggestions appreciated!

Edit and Update:
App has potential, but breaks quite a bit of functionality within Nextcloud. I really want this app to work, but it is very problematic to use in groups without trash, versioning, or automation via tags.

• No support for Trash issue #99 and issue #51
• No support for Versioning issue #50
• No support for Collaborative Tags issue #106 - you cannot use Workflow or Retention. No way for you to know this within Nextcloud instance… the tags simply do nothing.
• Do not attempt to convert an existing folder to a Group Folder. Instead, always start with creating a fresh Group Folder, then adding data.
• Supports nesting folders; you just have to write them in manually ala /Documents/Shared
• Very easy to create a doubling of folders issue #61 when configuring. Check every change per group for inconsistencies.
• As mentioned in official documentation, no support for Encryption.

[frsc]

Thank you @just for summarizing all the issues.
I haven’t used the Group Folders app so far, but I really need this feature. I also find the issues kind of troubling and I can’t really understand why it takes so long to fix them.

When you look at the reviews in the app store and some GitHub issues and comments, you can see that many people are disappointed by the lack of support for basic Nextcloud features and by major bugs.

So the main question is: Why are these problems not documented in the app store and why is this listed as a stable app? Please change that!

[OurCloud]

I don’t know what the current situation is with group folders but this is my experience using them.

I set them up under NC13x and all seemed fine, I reported in another post that when I upgraded to 14.0 the files I had in NC were deleted. The files and directories were deleted from all workstations that had NC clients actively syncing. I thought this was deleting all files and directories but now I think it was only the ones in Group Folders.

I reverted back to NC 13 using SiteGrounds Restore function through CPanel and restored the whole NC system from before the upgrade and recovered everything but I had to do some manual things to get the files back on the clients.

Since then I upgraded again, this time to to 14.03. In the process, All group folders and the files in them were deleted from the NC Database on the server and all workstations across the internet - about 7 computers were affected. Files and directories GONE.

Our NC servers are installed on SiteGround under our domain names - two separate NC Systems.

The files themselves were not deleted from the NextcloudData directories so we were able to restore them. Apparently only pointers to them but they were deleted from the client workstations.

It is apparent that something in the Group Folders application is not connecting when upgrading causing this problem.

The only work around I know is to stop syncing before upgrading- renaming the workstation directories ( if you don’t, the directories and files will be deleted when you turn syncing back on) And then rebuilding the group folders with the web interface.

From reading the many posts on this subject it appears problems with group folders has been around a while and should not be listed as a stable release. I have decided to abandon them until I see this is seriously addressed. I think the problem is that Groupfolders application is removed when you upgrade because it is no longer on our servers and I did not remove it from either of the two sites.

My suggestion is to not install group folders on anything but a testing platform and start with an older version of NC and do some upgrades and watch what happens on your clients.

Thank you, I hope this helps others. If I am doing something wrong, I have no Idea what it is, I use the NC Updater or SiteGrounds Softacalculous to do the upgrade. So If you have something to share to say what is going on I would like to hear from you,

… Another Note: I did not see any messages about upgradding the group folder or any other addon application when I started the upgrade. Should I have?

David
“OurColud(s)”

UPDATE: Sorry for the long and perhaps unnecessary post. After taking another look I wento the apps page and saw group folders was disabled. After re-enabling and upgrading from there all is back. .

I apparently forgot about that when I read the documentation… Yes I am a Man and I read the instructions anyway