Everyday Usage
Groupware
Nextcloud Groupware is a bundle of apps which is consisting of a Mail-Client and a Calendar/Contacts Server with their respective web interfaces. Nextcloud also offers deck, the productivity tool compared to Kanboard.
Upstream Docs: https://nextcloud.com/groupware/
The Nextcloud welcome screen will provide links to walk you through connecting your calendar, contacts, and more. Unfortunately, most of these will say to install the respective apps. This can be done by installing several applications from the application list.
Calendar:
With Calendar you have the ability to:
Contacts:
With Nextcloud Contacts you can:
- Track birthdays of your contacts
- Share your address books with your team
- Sync your contacts with phones and other devices
Deck:
Deck provides the ability to:
- Create any number of private or shared Kanban-style task boards
- Drag'n'drop cards, assign them to team members and set due dates
- Use checklists, attach files & export boards
Mail:
With Mail you can have:
- Multiple accounts with unified inbox
- Recognizes travel itineraries and adds them to calendar
- Supports end-to-end encryption using OpenPGP
Talk:
Talk provides:
- Encrypted End-to-End Video/Audio calls
- Easy Screen Sharing
- Integration with Nextcloud Files and Groupware
Tips:
Application not showing up after Nextcloud Upgrade in the top Banner
If the groupware applications are not showing up in the top banner it could be because the versions are not tested against the Nextcloud version that is available. To enable these untested applications, click your user at the top right of the page > Apps > Click Disabled Apps on the left hand side of the page > Enable the Application. Note if the Groupware application needs to be updated before being enabled it is recommended to update it first.
The Calendar application was in the process of being updated at this point in time. After it was updated, it was able to be enabled successfully on the running Nextcloud instance.
Email Configuration:
When configuring email, most email providers require you to use an application password as opposed to the password you would normally use to login.
Checksum
Do you need to confirm the file you are sharing with another is the same file you sent to them. Use a hash.
The Checksum Third Party Application allows you to generate a hash of the file. There are multiple hashes available including: MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, CRC32, and CRC32b.
Note this hash can only be performed on individual files, and not on shared folders.
For more information, check out the project here.
EPUB/CBZ/PDF Reader
With everything going digital, there is no reason not to have digital books. The Epub provides the ability to read EPUB, CBZ, and PDF files.
Some of the major features include: table of contents, bookmarks, seamless reading. Although these are major features of readers, this is a nice feature to have out of the box. One of the great features is the ability to pick up where you left off no matter your device. (This third party application also supports a dark mode for reading.)
Check out the project here for more information.
Deck
Deck is a kanban style organization tool aimed at personal planning and project organization for teams integrated with Nextcloud.
- 📥 Add your tasks to cards and put them in order
- 📄 Write down additional notes in markdown
- 🔖 Assign labels for even better organization
- 👥 Share with your team, friends or family
- 📎 Attach files and embed them in your markdown description
- 💬 Discuss with your team using comments
- ⚡ Keep track of changes in the activity stream
- 🚀 Get your project organized
User Documentation: https://deck.readthedocs.io/en/latest/User_documentation_en/
Code Repo: https://github.com/nextcloud/deck
Install
As an admin, go to your Apps:
Search for Deck, and Download and Enable it
You'll see the Deck Icon show up on your apps:
Setup
You can add a new board on the left, and new columns using the "Add new list" button
Everything there can be rearranged as necessary.
Configuration
Deck has a subset of features that Kanboard has. Deck has the following features (in no particular order):
- Titles
- Assignees
- Attachments
- Due Dates
- Tags
- Description
- Comments
It is notibly lacks the following when compared to Kanboard:
- Automated Actions
- Internal/External links
- Subtasks
However, for the most basic of workflows, it would be more than sufficient!
OnlyOffice
ONLYOFFICE connector allows you to view, edit and collaborate on text documents, spreadsheets and presentations within Nextcloud using ONLYOFFICE Docs. This will create a new Edit in ONLYOFFICE action within the document library for Office documents. This allows multiple users to co-author documents in real time from the familiar web interface and save the changes back to your file storage.
Check out the project here for more information!
Dashboard
Customizing the dashboard gives the ability to open nextcloud and have an overview of what may be going on in your digital life. With the dashboard widgets, you can check anything from reports, to jira tasks, to manage messages from Mail, Gitlab, Github, Reddit and Twitter.
Getting started with the Dashboard begins at the Adding Apps section of Nextcloud where the Dashboard section can be found.
After the widgets you would like to add have been added they can then be added the dashboard on the main page by hitting the customize button. By default the dashboard will be blank and not have any widgets configured or enabled.
After you have enabled the widgets, they are now accessible on the main page but need to be configured.
To configure these apps, either the "Connect to Service" Button can be clicked or you can click on your avatar on the top right, click settings, and then click Connected Accounts.
For Github and Gitlab Adding Access was a matter of adding Personal Access Tokens
As for Reddit and Twitter there is a popup that shows up in the browser asking for web+nextcloud link integration.
There is then a little connect button at the bottom of the Connected Accounts page that will allow you to authorize with Reddit to allow Nextcloud access to your feed.
Something to note is that as other application integrations are added, widgets become available through the dashboard. The best examples of applications which have an included widget which can be enabled are Calendar and Mail. The widget for mail shows unread mail and the calendar widget shows upcoming calendar events.