Limits of android (mobile?) editing

Dear all,

I’m sure, this topic has been discussed here - but I can’t find it.

Is there any way to edit document on an android device without having to pay?

Situation:

  • nextcloud-Server via hetzner.com, where the integrated OnlyOffice doesn’t work collaborative.
  • root server with community-edition of OnlyOffice installed and inserted into the nextcloud

Editing on mobile is not mobile, because something has to be bought.

I didn’t catch, what I would have to buy…does it need to be OnlyOffice Enterprise?

Any other ways to collaboratively edit my documents on all types of devices?

Thanks in advance for an answer,
pheidrias

Hi,
Why does having to buy something prevent it from being mobile? Maybe I misunderstand your question.

Personally I believe in paying for useful tools, financially or otherwise. If asked for neither payment nor donation then I will likely pay in some other way such as having my personal data stolen and exploited behind my back.

As it happens, you can create and modify documents stored on your device using Onlyoffice Documents. The Nextcloud app will take care of the sync. :slightly_smiling_face:

That’s OK for sharing. Real-time collaboration requires a server suitably configured.

Hi!

The problem was, that OnlyOffice wants a paid subscription for mobile editing to be allowed. I didn’t screenshot the message - that’s why I have been asking here…

I totally agree, that buying open source software is a good and honorable way. But atm I am trying to convince me school to change from MS Teams to Nextcloud&Co - so there is no money available until they are convinced…

Greetings,
pheidrias

Hi again,
What exactly do you mean by “mobile editing”?
If you have documents stored on NC and synced to your mobile then you can modify them and create new ones using the app Onlyoffice Documents which I mentioned above. There is no charge for the app.

If you want to be able to modify shared documents at the same moment as other users and see what they’re doing in full real-time collaboration mode, that requires that the documents be stored on the server and that appropriate software and settings be in place, such as is the case with murena.io for example.

Mobile Editing means, I want to edit a document directly (via NC-webinterface or OnlyOffice-App connected to the NC) on a mobile device, e.g. Android or iOS.
This is prevented by OnlyOffice as long as you don’t purchase their license.

That is what I am saying you can do. Without paying.

  1. Install the NextCloud app to manage file synchronization.
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextcloud.client
  2. Install the Onlyoffice Documents app.
    com.onlyoffice.documents
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onlyoffice.documents

Works for me. The same configuration can be installed on iOS as well.

Yes, maybe - but this only applies to synced setups. And it won’t work collaboratively…

The intial problem was, that I didn’t understand the error message - now I know it’s because of the OnlyOffice-Server-License-Limitations…

Well, I don’t know the details of the NC instance you cited in your first post.

If you want to demonstrate some of the possibilities of collaboration offered by a NC instance + Onlyoffice setup, you can create an account (for free, data storage limited to 1 GB) on Murena (other possibilities doubtless available) and install on the mobile device the apps I cited in post n° 6. This allows sharing, encryption, online real-time co-editing (web browser), apps for syncing and editing on any mobile device running recent versions of Android or iOS, and on PCs and Macs.

I can confirm your observations: Trying to directly edit an office document on a nextcloud installation from a mobile device or tablet with onlyoffice set as the document editor/viewer results in a message stating that you can view only. This restriction does not exist if you access the file(s) from the Onlyoffice apps in the Play and iOS app stores, where you can enter the Nextcloud cloud server names and login credentials.

In terms of collaboration, however, this method does not provide the proper/ideal collaborative properties where real-time modifications from users are displayed and recorded (such as a Google workspace document). I’ve confirmed that OnlyOffice can’t do this, and it is not an issue with my NC server configuration as I have the memcaching set up correctly.

Nextcloud Office (which uses the Collabora code server) does perform the collaboration similar to Google docs editing.

I prefer the UI of OnlyOffice. It’s smooth. But having to go through the OnlyOffice app to edit a document on my tablet while not guaranteeing that my PC having the same document open won’t cause issues led me to use NC Office, even though the menus are ugly.