How to use Nextcloud in The Reef

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In The Reef, we have used Nextcloud as our shared online workspace for several years, and it is quite likely we will continue to do so. This post contains (1) an explanation of what Nextcloud is good as, to better understand its strenghts and limitations, and (2) some tips that will hopefully help Reeflings to use Nextcloud happily and productively, while avoiding common pitfalls.

1. Understanding Nextcloud

Nextcloud is a set of software tools that work well together (also called a “suite”).

At the core of the suite is a file sharing utility. The basic idea is that Reeflings all share a number of files, to which we all have access. When one Reefling changes one of these files (or creates a new one), these changes will be there for all Reeflings from then on. Additionally, Nextcloud will keep track of every change, creating, for every file, a version history that knows who changed what and when.

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This is called Nexcloud Files. There are three more important ones:

  1. Nextcloud Groupware. Calendars, Deck, Address Book…
  2. Nextcloud Office. Microsoft Office-like tools for collaborative editing online (think Google Docs).
  3. Nextcloud Hub. The web interface we see when we access https://workspace.thereef.brussels, and that gives us access to File, Groupware and Hub.

TIps for using Nextcloud without frustration

  1. Install the desktop app (or the mobile app if you are a tablet/smartphone person): https://nextcloud.com/install/. After login into your Workspace account, this app will immediately create a local copy on your machine of all the files that live on our online workspace. After that, it will run in the background and keep that copy synced with the cloud version.
  2. Don’t do collaborative editing in the browser. While Nextcloud Office is similar in scope to Google Docs, it is nowhere near as good yet. Buggy online editing has been by far the main source of requests for technical support: for example, if you do online editing on Android at night, your device goes into Dark Mode (white text over a black background). On some devices, Nextcloud Office is rendered as black text over black background, which is unreadable. Browser editing works reasonably well for small changes, like correcting a typo. But for substantial work, Team IT recommends to:
  3. Edit the files in local on your own machine, using Excel or Word; when you save your changes, they will be pushed to all local copies in the same file. If you use Microsoft Word and Excel, remember that AutoSave is not implemented the way it in Sharepoint, and you have to save manually.
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