ignore a local-folder instead of un checking sync - avoid deleting localfolders

[dkebler]

I don't expect much traction here given this has been a known issue/feature request for some time. Still the moderator at the forum requested I make an issue based on the work around I provided there. Rather than repeat all the details I refer you to the forum post.

The feature request is to make the current folder check box work in a different way. Have it ignore a folder for syncing instead (as I do now but adding it to ignore list). If one wants the current functionality you just allow it to sync first then uncheck it to "unlink" it. Then if the user! decides they can then delete those local files/folders knowing that a copy is in the cloud.

https://help.nextcloud.com/t/ignore-a-local-folder-instead-of-un-checking-sync-avoid-deleting-local-folders/45044

[TheNomad11]

any news about this topic?

[pevogam]

I just lost two virtual machines and an encrypted file with important data deleted by this "great" feature on a desktop client of Nextcloud. I created a file "local" within the root folder synced to the cloud and unchecked it, saw the warning that it will be deleted and interpreted it as in "being deleted once to make sure there is a clean later ignorable folder" and agreed, copying the data to a safe place. Then I moved the data back and used the cloud (syncing and everything) for a day until today I synced an image from a phone device which removed the local folder entirely again on the desktop and took down a few running virtual machines that I only have left in RAM memory now.

May I ask, after the two-day-delayed-time-bomb of a shock I just experienced, why on Earth would unchecking a folder mean "deleting" it rather than ignoring it? Why can't deleting it be something more explicitly done by a nice red "Delete" button or full-awareness action on the side of the user? Why can't deleting place the files in a recycle bin rather than do this one-directionally, at least the one that doesn't come from synchronization?

I understood from the link above that in some sense this is a better approach to file synchronization. Can somebody elaborate why exactly? What exactly is wrong with unchecking a file at the client GUI specifically to tell it to not sync something and to leave such direct modification of files (changing, deleting, adding) to the file manager and end user? Or remove these functionality-duplicating check boxes altogether?

[kilrau]

News / related issues? Unticking a folder to delete something locally is really bad UX and unintended behavior in almost every case. I'd be happy to work on the UI/UX side if a developer decides to pick this up.

[alex-dommasch]

Wow, just got started with nextcloud, and I almost did the same thing! I agree it's crazy to delete the local file when selecting "don't sync this". The plain language interpretation would be to keep a file or folder from being uploaded to the server - and that's going to be a much more useful operation as well!

[raketentimo]

I read the hole discussion beginning with the owncloud client in in 2014 https://github.com/owncloud/client/issues/2502

I am posting here or checked with github because my first idea was "What a major bug ...". I read all the arguments and still think: "Yep. Bug. Major. Critical. Blocking."

• The client does not warn you that "unsync" means delete.
• It will even delete folders that are shown not insync - the client knows it will delete data without having any copies left.

Tools like rsync you have to explicit enable functions like "--delete" and they will still not work on the "excluded" folders.

Deleting files without the explicit consent of a user is a major design flaw.

I have read several statements that this behaviour is what some users are expecting. And I am quite sure thats true. I work for ~40 Users. And especially the one who unchecked the sync for a folder just because he ran out of local disk space, lost 4h of work disagrees. I simply have to remove the client. I cannot wait for the guy who thinks that's working as intended.

I see that my opinion is not in sync with the devs. So you will delete me? Please fix it or at least accept commits to fix this.

Its a bug.

[jsaraiva]

Although I am now used to working with this way in Nextcloud, I nevertheless have to agree that deleting local stuff without even asking is not the way to go.
Personally, I don't care if that's the way Dropbox works. If I wanted something to work like Dropbox, I would be using Dropbox. If everyone did something only because that's the way others do it, we wouldn't have cars, we would still be using horse-pulled carriages.

[Kreijstal]

wow, so still nothing?

[realpixelcode]

In a certain directory, I've got a folder with a bunch of extremely large .zip files that I don't want to use up my valuable cloud storage. I noticed too late that said folder had already been synchronised to the cloud, so I opened the Nextcloud client and unselected the directory, expecting it not to be synchronised anymore to the cloud.

However, to my profound horror, I noticed that, instead of simply cancelling the cloud synchronisation of the folder, Nextcloud had actually deleted it from my local file system!

What kind of user would expect an entire folder to be deleted permanently when unchecking a check box in a cloud synchronisation client?

This is an extremely terrible UX decision because of which I will uninstall Nextcloud, in order not to accidentally trigger even further unexpected hazardous behaviour!

[jospoortvliet]

My proposal:

If the folder has been synced to the server, it seems the sane thing to remove its content when you uncheck it - otherwise, you will have folders in your /Nextcloud folder which are NOT synced. This can lead to problems as you might put files in them, not realizing they are not being synced.

Of course, you can disagree with that - I think that's a legitimate discussion.

But what isn't up for discussion is that it should of course never result in data loss. So if the folder has not yet been synced, unchecking it should result in either a warning ("files have not yet been synced") or sync-first-then-delete.

THIS behavior (which can cause data loss) I would actually call a bug, not a feature request.

[realpixelcode]

Hm, thing is: I don't have a dedicated /Nextcloud/ folder – I sync my “production” folders right away, because it's easier. And I'd guess that's how many others do it. 🤷

[ghost]

yesterday I synced a android code project and now my ransomware protection is all upset because of bin files it considers bad.

it would be SO MUCH EASIER if we could tell nextcloud to ignore some generated dirs. Basically just a buch of local and (obviously not synced) .nextcloudignore files that works exactly like .gitignore ones.

[joickle]

2024 and this simple feature is still missing from the desktop client SMH.