Trying to understand how to use WebDAV

ℹ️ Support
1

I would like to use my home NextCloud server to sync files from OmniFocus. However, I don’t quite understand how to set it up or what folders I have to create on my Linux box and WHERE they should go.

So for example, Omnifocus is asking me for an address.

I know about https://my.server/nextcloud/remote.php

but what comes after “remote.php”? I’ve seen various examples such as

https://my.server/nextcloud/remote.php/webdav/foo

but when I’ve tried such things, I just get a sync failed. Is “webdav” part of the necessary URL, or can it be just anything? Do I need to create a folder called “webdav” or something else? Does it go under the “data” folder? What about permissions?

I’ve also seen references to the use of webdav: rather than https:

Guidance would be appreciated.

2

usually, it is:

https://myserver.name/remote.php/webdav/USERNAME

  • webdav can be use in conjonction of http/https/ssl, depending on the client ( w10, linux, omnifocus, whatever )

you can start here: https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/13/admin_manual/configuration_files/external_storage/webdav.html?highlight=webdav

3

Really appreciate the response. I tried your suggestion and got the message:

No document exists at “/nextcloud/remote.php/webdav/dhj/OmniFocus.ofocus

So that begs the question as to whether (a) I’m supposed to create such a document (which I find unlikely) or (b) there’s a permissions issue preventing the document from being created.

I’ll check out the other link

4

whats the username in here? dhj? just try it with this one without any other path

which would make /nextcloud/remote.php/webdav/dhj

5

Yes, that’s what I used. It is the error message that came back with the OmniFocus tacked on. I am assuming that Omnifocus tried to create that file but couldn’t.

6

awww i see. well sorry for having mistaken that :frowning:

could you try /nextcloud/remote.php/webdav/dhj/ with a closing slash?

7

Yeah, still get the same error (where it tacked on the OmniFocus.ofocus/) in the message

No document exists at “/nextcloud/remote.php/webdav/dhj/OmniFocus.ofocus/

It seems that it’s failing to create this OmniFocus document. Where should that document be getting created? I tried temporarily changing the permissions (recursively) of everything under the “data” folder to 777 but that didn’t work either.

8

for me it seems as if omnifocus is expecting this kind of file there…

9

Maybe — not obvious how one would create the initial version (and even if you had to, then you have to know where to create it).

10

OK — I got a response from OmniFocus and they did in fact suggest copying my local OmniFocus.ofocus

But to where?

In other words — to what location on my file system does the URL

/nextcloud/remote.php/webdav/dhj

correspond?

11

From the Nextcloud interface, that’s the root of your Files app’s folders.
Relative to your Nextcloud data directory, that’s <username>/files/.

For a typical manual install, your path will probably be /var/www/nextcloud/data/dhj/files/. If you’ve changed your data directory, you can check to see what it is from your Nextcloud’s config/config.php, wherever that lives.

12

Thanks — I put the file (it’s actually a folder) there but Omnifocus is still complaining - I’ve forwarded latest message to them. Many thanks for your help

13

cool.
if they can solve the problem it would be nice if you would share the solution here… :slight_smile:

14

Yes of course — I’m sorry, I thought I had provided this - thanks for reminding me.

Turns out the correct URL to use is this (ignoring server)

https://your_server.com/nextcloud/remote.php/dav/files/your_username/

The Omnifocus people told me they figured this out by reviewing the nextcloud documentation.

So I’m not sure why it is “dav” rather than “webdav” but it’s working now. Notice also that your username goes AFTER the “files” part.

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