# New user with basic questions about functionality

**URL:** <https://help.nextcloud.com/t/new-user-with-basic-questions-about-functionality/222944>\
**Category:** 🏷️ General\
**Tags:** cpanel\
**Created:** [April 17, 2025, 7:36am UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/new-user-with-basic-questions-about-functionality/222944 "2025-04-17T07:36:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SPS](https://help.nextcloud.com/letter_avatar/sps/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@SPS](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/SPS)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 7:36am UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/new-user-with-basic-questions-about-functionality/222944/1 "2025-04-17T07:36:53Z")

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### I have no support/technical question and have seen the support category. (Be aware that direct support questions will be deleted.)

on

### Which general topic do you have

I just installed Nextcloud to my domain via cpanel. I was hoping to set up a simple version of my own WeTransfer type of email sharing for large files. I’ll need it to be for mostly non-user access via pasted email links that eventually expire in 30 days. I am willing to tinker a bit, but am wary of setting something up that will require constant fiddling between updates. Did I start with the right platform or are there other options that I might consider?

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**Author:** ![vawaver](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/vawaver/32/71824_2.png) [@vawaver](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/vawaver)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 9:58am UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/new-user-with-basic-questions-about-functionality/222944/2 "2025-04-17T09:58:28Z")

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Hi,  
welcome to the Nextcloud community! Great to see you’re exploring what the platform can do.

Let me walk you through some of your questions, especially regarding **sharing** and **basic user functionality** :

* * *

### 👥 **Seeing Other Users / Sharing With Them**

By default, **Nextcloud does not show a list of all users** in the Contacts app. The Contacts app is more for **managing your own personal address books**.

However:

- When **sharing a file or folder** , you can start typing a username or email, and if the person exists on the same instance, they will appear in autocomplete suggestions.
- You can also share **with a group** , if groups have been defined (either by the admin or using the [Circles](https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/circles) app for user-created groups).
- The **Talk app** also allows you to discover users by name or ID when starting a chat.

If you want to **see a list of all users** , that would require admin privileges or a custom app/script – Nextcloud intentionally doesn’t expose all users for privacy and scalability reasons.

* * *

### 📤 **How Sharing Works**

You can share:

- **Files or folders** with internal users (on the same Nextcloud instance) by entering their username or email.
- With **external users** via public link (with optional password or expiration).
- You can set **permissions** for each share:
  - Read-only, allow editing, allow uploading, resharing, or even file drop (where external users can upload, but not view existing content).

- If you enable **collaborative apps** like **Nextcloud Office** , you can co-edit documents live (like in Google Docs).

Each share can be individually managed, and you can remove or adjust access anytime.

* * *

### 🔧 **Installing New Apps**

If you’re an admin:

- Go to your user menu (top right) → **Apps**
- There you can browse and install apps to expand functionality: Calendar, Mail, Office, Deck, Notes, Tasks, and more.

If you don’t see this menu, your account likely doesn’t have admin privileges.

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**Author:** ![mwildam](https://help.nextcloud.com/user_avatar/help.nextcloud.com/mwildam/32/38150_2.png) [@mwildam](https://help.nextcloud.com/u/mwildam)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://help.nextcloud.com/t/new-user-with-basic-questions-about-functionality/222944/3 "2025-04-21T17:42:32Z")

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The question rather suggests, the idea is to share to external users. And that also can be done:

 ![screen-0421-193959](https://help.nextcloud.com/uploads/default/original/3X/0/5/0538ad60b35038151f7b17fd6272c7a77396f71a.png)

There is an additional app in the app store - “Configurable Share Links” - that can be used to create an individual public link: [Configurable Share Links - Apps - App Store - Nextcloud](https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/cfg_share_links)