Nextcloud group folders are dir­ect­or­ies created by ad­min­is­trat­ors and shared with all members of one or more teams. The ideal app for managing these folders is ‘Team folders’. The built-in ‘Shares’ function and the ‘Teams’ app also offer exciting al­tern­at­ives for col­lab­or­at­ive file sharing.

What is a Nextcloud group folder?

This par­tic­u­lar feature allows you to create and share dir­ect­or­ies with teams or specific user groups in Nextcloud. Only ad­min­is­trat­ors have per­mis­sion to create Nextcloud group folders. Admins can precisely control which groups have access to the folder, and who is allowed to edit, create, or delete files. This feaure is par­tic­u­larly useful for col­lab­or­a­tion within struc­tured teams, where members have different roles or levels of re­spons­ib­il­ity.

Ad­min­is­trat­ors can also set storage limits, known as quotas, for group dir­ect­or­ies to manage how much storage space each group can use. Since these dir­ect­or­ies are assigned to a group, the data remains intact even if in­di­vidu­al members leave the group. To access group folders, a Nextcloud account is required, but external sharing is possible via the share function.

What is Team folders?

To create and manage group folders, using the app ‘Team folders’ (formerly called ‘Nextcloud Group folders’) is re­com­men­ded. Like all Nextcloud apps, you can install and enable this ap­plic­a­tion via the built-in app store. Simply log in using an account with ad­min­is­trat­ive rights, go to the store and search for ‘Team folders’. Then, click on “Download and enable” to install it.

Image: ‘Team folders’ app in the Nextcloud app store
You can find the app for Nextcloud group folders in the ‘Files’ category.
Tip

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How to create and share Nextcloud group folders

The following step-by-step guide shows you how to create and share group folders. To do so, simply follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the man­age­ment account with ad­min­is­trat­ive rights via the web interface.

  2. First click on your profile icon and then select Ad­min­is­tra­tion settings. From there, go to the group folders section.

  3. Enter the name of the group folder in the Folder name field (left of the plus symbol) and click Create to confirm.

  4. The newly created folder now appears in the list of group dir­ect­or­ies.

Image: Created Nextcloud group folder
After you have created a Nextcloud group folder, it will auto­mat­ic­ally appear in the ‘Team folders’ app list.

Once the Nextcloud group folder is created, the entry None will appear as the group af­fil­i­ation. If you want to share the Nextcloud folder with a group, follow these steps:

  1. To edit the group af­fil­i­ation, click the pencil icon.

  2. Select the group(s) to share the folder with from the list

  3. Set the desired per­mis­sions - Write, Share, and Delete.

  4. Finally, refresh the web interface in your browser. The newly added group will now appear in the group af­fil­i­ation section.

Image: Nextcloud Group folder settings
“For each shared group folder, you can in­di­vidu­ally determine the rights each person should have.

What are the al­tern­at­ives to Nextcloud group folders?

In addition to group dir­ect­or­ies, Nextcloud offers other ways to share files or folders with others. One prominent al­tern­at­ive is the in­teg­rated sharing feature, which can be accessed via the share icon (next to a file or folder). From a technical per­spect­ive, this form of sharing works similarly to a symbolic link, which in­tro­duces two dis­ad­vant­ages:

  1. Shares always belong to the sharing user. If this person leaves the company or their account is deleted or locked, the shared content becomes in­ac­cess­ible to other users. Share re­cip­i­ents also cannot intervene if important data is deleted.

  2. Users can move and rename shares, which can make it difficult to locate the shared content in the worst-case scenario. In contrast, Nextcloud group folders are uniformly named and stored in the same location for all users.

Another al­tern­at­ive for cross-user file or­gan­isa­tion is the ‘Teamsapp (formerly ‘Circles’). This extension, now in­teg­rated by default into Nextcloud, allows files and folders to be shared among self-managed teams without the need for ad­min­is­trat­or in­ter­ven­tion. It provides struc­tured self-or­gan­isa­tion, making it ideal for projects or teams without a clear hierarchy. In principle, all users can create teams. However, this option shares the same lim­it­a­tions as tra­di­tion­al file sharing.

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