Sharing files in NextCloud

NextCloud users can share files and folders. Possible targets are

• public links
• users
• groups
• circles
• conversations
• users or groups on federated Nextcloud servers

Clicking the share icon on any file or folder opens the details view on the right, where the Share tab has the focus.

Ways to share files

Public sharing links

You can share files and folders via public links.

A random 15-digit token will be created. The link will look like https://cloud.example.com/s/yxcFKRWBJqYYzp4.

There are several options for sharing public folders:

• Read only to allow viewing and downloading
• Allow uploading and editing.
• With Upload files, the sharer can only upload files to a folder without viewing the files already in that folder.
• Hide download hides the download buttons and the default right-click options of the browser to make downloading more difficult for the sharer.
• Password protect
• Set expiry date will automatically disable the sharee
• Note to recipient
• Unshare to revert the action
• Add another link to create multiple public links with different rights

Note

Password protection and file expiration are not propagated by federated file sharing in current versions of Nextcloud. This has been adjusted in Nextcloud 22.

Internal sharing with users and groups

When sharing with users, groups, circles or members of a Talk conversation, the rights for files or folder contents are adjustable:

As a sharer, you can configure whether you want to automatically accept all incoming shares and have them added to your root folder, or whether you want to be asked each time whether you want to accept or reject the share.

To set acceptance, go to Settings > Staff > Share:

Others with access

To find out if a file or folder is accessible to others through sharing at a higher hierarchical folder level, click on Others with access in the sharing tab:

The list shows all users, groups, chats, etc. that have been given access to the current object through the sharing of a parent folder in the hierarchy:

Click on the three dots to

• see who initiated the sharing
• see where the share was initiated (click to navigate to the folder, provided you have access to it)
• undo the initial sharing (only accessible to the owner of the share)

Note

This information is only visible to the owner of a file/folder or to users with rights to re-share.

For more information, please see the official guide