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Allow 2-way-sync #19
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@przybylski @tobiasKaminsky can you take a look at this issue? I thought we already this (or have a branch for this) and also I thought we do this for files (but maybe not for folders yet).
As far as I know there is no real 2 way sync yet.
I started to implement that any folder can be instant uploaded to server, but that is still an enhanced one way sync...The current situation is this: If you change a file in the phone, you have to open the Nextcloud app, go to the directory where the updated file resides, and drag down with your finger to force a refresh in that directory. Only then your changed file is uploaded to the server and appear on your other devices.
Reacted by Peter Neigel, Digital Spaceport, Quantodeluz and Declan@mabkenar Does this also happen, when you mark the file as a favorite?
Yes. As far as I can tell, making the file favorite (or recently, "Set as available offline") has no effect.
@tobiasKaminsky is this a bug or a works as designed and needs an improvement?
@mabkenar do you have enabled sync in android -> settings -> accounts -> nextcloud?
Only then the sync is working, AFAIRReacted by dvdgsng, Alex Griffin, Torben Schweren, Oliver Chen, Dovie Weinstock, Carsten Engelke, ClaskoTheKnight, Thomas Wutzler, RawSmokeTerribilus, Bruno Tenisi and 5 moreOh I see. I never touched the sync setting after I added my Nextcloud account, and now I see that sync was disabled by default (This is strange. Is this a design decision?).
Now with sync enabled, when I change a file on the server, it only appears in Android if the file is "Set as available offline". For non-"Set as available offline" files, no sync happens.
For the reverse situation: only changes made to "Set as available offline" files are propagated back to the server. All other files remain in the local device until a change in the server causes a conflict.
The situation for non-available-as-offline files that are changed from the server is problematic because while an older version of the files is downloaded to the client (say from 1 day ago), there is still a green tick mark next to the file that implies this file is up-to-date, and the client even says "last changed 10 minutes ago" (but this refers to the change in the server that has not been synced to the client). The file is never updated unless a manual "Synchronize" is issued from the client.
Oh before I confuse anyone, I am using Nextcloud provided by F-Droid, and I don't have Google's non-free stuff installed on my device. Could this make any difference?
Reacted by michel memeteau and dvdgsngAs a potential new user this is not very clear to me. Could someone from the organization clarify this? Is this feature (2-way-sync) working/planned/workaround? possibly point us to the docs?
Reacted by jfml, Bennett Piater, Tom Faulkner, Jolls, Dovie Weinstock, Adam, Robin Brown, Anomatomato and swedneck@mabkenar f-droid version with any Google service shouldn't be an issue
@LeonardoGentile at the moment the status would be "planned", thus the discussion/issue@AndyScherzinger any update or timeline for this?
Hi @LeonardoGentile as stated by #19 (comment) we don't really have a two way sync at the moment. We are working on the first step towards folder sync #285 -> #358. The two way sync is basically the last step planned to be added to that new implementation. A timeline is hard to tell since at the moment all people actively working on the app a community contributors. Since @tobiasKaminsky is aiming at having two way sync this feature has a high priority, not sure if he could name any timeline from his point of view. So for now we only have the road map outlined in #285.
On a file level "Set as available offline" should do the trick at the moment, so you should be able to activate this on a file basis but you can't do it on a (arbitrary) folder level.
Reacted by LeonardoGentile, DMW007 and sunjam181 remaining items
May i ask if this issue will be fixed? Because if not its beter to remove the options in the android app.
Reacted by Farran De Tao and erericma@yotiko Please read the history before asking. The mobile team is currently waiting for the NC team to implement server-side hashing, so mobile sync can work as expected. See this issue. Before that is implemented, this issue probably won't be closed...
I'm not a dev, but you can get pretty close to true two-way sync by using your default file manager. There should be a Nextcloud container you can read/write from/to. If you don't see it, make sure to disable password protection for the app or change your file browser. Most apps can use that container normally, though there are disadvantages like clunky offline access (only through cache after a lengthy timeout), delays in fetching larger files especially if your server is slow, some apps complaining/crashing or flat out refusing to let you pick from there. Also consider external apps, like my favourite FolderSync Pro, though that one also isn't perfect.
It's probably best to use an alternative, e.g. see above, and subscribe to this issue to know when it's been implemented... Though you might get random comments like yours pop up in your email ;)Reacted by Artur WeigandtI apologize, I tried to resolve this issue but was unsuccessful. - Tôi xin lỗi, tôi đã thử giải quyết vấn đề này nhưng không thành công.
Reacted by Marvin Lehmann, Jérôme MEVEL, Narcis Garcia and Daniel ScharmachReacted by Narcis GarciaI apologize, I tried to resolve this issue but was unsuccessful. - Tôi xin lỗi, tôi đã thử giải quyết vấn đề này nhưng không thành công.
Reacted by Marvin Lehmann, Janis Pütz, Jérôme MEVEL, Narcis Garcia and Daniel ScharmachReacted by Narcis GarciaAnd the next big release with Nextcloud Hub 26, more "amazing" AI features no one asked for and still no sync....
Sorry, but I don't understand how this issue can be open since 2016
Reacted by Piet, ChrisB85, VibrantTreeStump, apalacheno, erericma, MystikReasons, Jo Valentine-Cooper, yotiko, Andre Mainka, Christoph Gaisberger and 24 more- Yeah, that's the reason I'm looking for an alternative. I don't need docker in Nextcloud. I want a reliable file sync and share platform. Nextcloud also has at least one open issue with webdav for years, that I encounter every time. I'm looking into opencloud actually. Also a college showed me, that he has a two way sync with Nextcloud and his iPhone. So it seems only related to android.Reacted by Sven Ziegler, Jo Valentine-Cooper, yotiko, Kirill Elagin, mike stewart, Mr. Beans and Daniel ScharmachReacted by yotiko
I always assumed sync on mobile means it syncs since that's what it meant on desktop. It didn't really say anywhere that it's in any way else. I just switched my phone. 3 years of obsidian notes gone: (
Reacted by Vincent Lannurien, Farran De Tao, Aron, MystikReasons, Mr. Beans and Md Abdur Razzaq RiyadhReacted by Janis PützHas anybody tried EasySync as a simple WebDAV tool?
Reacted by Silviu Vulcan, Nimmidev, Michael Keck and Daniel ScharmachCan the moderators please lock this ? I'm subscribed to it to learn when it's fixed not to follow reddit like random offtopic discussions.
Reacted by Artur Weigandt, Philip Sosnin, idzikovsky, slanderous-mambo, Burker Alexander, Nimmidev, sunjam, VibrantTreeStump, drhirn, Daniel Scharon and 5 moreReacted by Michael Keck, Farran De Tao and Robsdedude- locked as too heated and limited conversation to collaborators
on Aug 2, 2026 Good point by @filviu - I locked it for now.
For anyone wondering why this isn't done yet - this comment has some insights and I'm sure there is more. In short, it's very hard to reliably achieve on Android. That doesn't mean we don't want to do it, but until now, other things got priority. If/when it is done, I'm sure we will let everyone know ;-)
Hi all,
just to clarify, as it seems like this issue has grown from the original topic into 2 huge topics:
- 2-way sync of folders inside the local Nextcloud folder: This works since 3.30, see this PR. If anything with this does not work, please open a specific issue about it with logs and we will debug it. Since this was fixed, we would close this issue.
- 2-way sync of folders which are outside of the local Nextcloud folder: This is not supported yet. We opened a new issue for the specific topic at 2-way sync of folders which are _outside_ of the local Nextcloud folder #17570. If you would like to see the feature, please do 👍 it as we definitely look at number of upvotes. This is also a reason we are cleaning this huge issue up since we can not tell how many want the original "internal 2 way sync" (which we do have) and how many want an "external 2 way sync".
Hope this reduces confusion for everyone and makes it clear what we currently do and don’t have. :)
- moved this from 🧭 Planning evaluation (don't pick) to ☑️ Done in 🤖 🍏 Mobile clients team
on Sep 7, 2026
When 'syncronizing' a folder in the nextCloud app, actually changes from the remote server become propagated on the mobile device. However changes on the mobile device aren't uploaded back to the remote server.
How the nextCloud app should behave: