TechDocs/Nextcloud

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Nextcloud

The FSFE offers a Nextcloud instance for staff and interested core team members on share.fsfe.org. The service meant for file sharing among various teams as well as for calendars, contacts and editing files collaboratively.

Getting access

Members of various teams can log in with their FSFE credentials. If you think you should actually have access but don't have, or would like to request it, please write an email to contact@.

TOTP codes

Because our Nextcloud integrates a lot of sensitive data, some teams' members are required to secure your account with time-based one-time passwords (TOTP). You will not only need username and password to log in but also an automatically generated code. This code can be generated on your mobile phone with apps like andOTP. Attackers therefore would also need access to your phone to log in.

After the first login, you have to activate TOTP. You will be presented a QR code which you'll have to scan with your OTP application. This generates a 6 letter code which you'll have to type in to confirm the setting. For each login, you will have to confirm with TOTP codes.

Attention: Make sure to generate and securely save backup codes in case you lose your phone or OTP data. In your OTP application, you should export/backup your data and keep it safe. Besides, in the "Security" settings of Nextcloud account you can generate backup codes which will allow you to log in once in case you lost your OTP data.

If you do not want to use a phone as the second factor, there are also desktop applications to store and generate these codes for you. This should be possible via KeePassXC for example, but has not been tested yet.

Device keys

Enabling TOTP creates some more work in a few scenarios. If you would like to access your calendars from an application, you'll have to generate device/app keys. In your personal security settings you can type in an app name to generate a random password. Save this in a secure place because it will only be shown once! Use the generated password instead of your personal one to synchronise calendars for example.

Shared Calendars

Some groups have shared calendars, e.g. all members of "Staff". To view them, go to the Calendar tab by clicking the respective icon in the top navigation bar. Beneath your own private calendar, which is automatically created, you can also see all calendars shared with you. You can easily view and edit entries. When adding new ones, please take care that you select the correct calendar.

To access the calendar in your local calendar application, e.g. Thunderbird's Lightning, click on the 3 dots next to the calendar name in the left sidebar and press "Link". You will be presented a link similar to https://share.fsfe.org/remote.php/dav/calendars/123456-abcd...-789/staff-1_shared_by_fsfe/.

Copy this link and add a new calendar within your calendar application. In Thunderbird Lightning, you have to make it a network calendar and select CalDAV as format. As calendar location paste the link you copied before. Set the other options depending on your preferences.

After adding the calendar, you will be asked for a username and password. You can use your FSFE username, but for the password you will have to generate a dedicated password app. Please see the TOTP section for info on that.

File sharing

This service is primarily meant for sharing files among teams. Most teams have at least one group folder which you will immediately see on the root level of your files. Every file that you add, edit or remove will have an effect on what the other people in your team see.

If you work with these files regularly, consider using the Nextcloud desktop client. It is already available in many distributions under the names nextcloud-client or nextcloud-desktop. This application synchronises all files with your local computer. Make sure that you explicitely activate the synchronisation of the group folder if you wish so.

If your desktop manager (e.g. Gnome or KDE) supports online accounts you can also add your Nextcloud account and have it integrated into e.g. the file manager. Please see the Nextcloud Documentation for more information.

Collaborative document editing

Nextcloud offers collaborative editing of documents. The easiest integrated feature is to edit Markdown files (file.md) together, e.g. directly in the web interface.

For more advanced files, we have the Collabora app in the web interface. Click on any Open Document Format file (.odt, .ods...) and see how an editor opens. You and everyone else can now edit the file as if you would open it in LibreOffice or so. This works in real time, so could be used as an alternative to Etherpad.

If you would like to see what others did in your document, go to "Edit" > "Track Changes" and activate "Record" and "Show". In the same dialogue, you can click on "Manage..." and thereby accept and/or reject individual changes.

TechDocs/Nextcloud (last edited 2023-08-01 13:20:35 by irakli)