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Data Directory -> Use external storage

Open wolfisberg opened this issue 4 years ago • 14 comments

Hi

Can you explain to me, how the Data Directory -> Use external storage / Location options are supposed to work?

When I toggle the Use external storage option to active and try to set a location, the following happens:

  1. Some file browser opens
  2. I can choose between SD Card and NextCloud (I have the NC app installed)
  3. When I chose a location on either the SD card or in the NC app, it asks for access permission
  4. I grant permission
  5. The app returns to settings
  6. Nothing seems to have changed
  7. New notes I save don't seem to be saved to the chose location
  8. The Location configuration still shows the same path as before (neither the SC card nor the NC directory)

I'm basically trying to sync my notes to NextCloud. I'm trying to avoid using syncthing or foldersync because I already have a nextcloud taking care of my file sync needs...

wolfisberg avatar Jul 01 '21 19:07 wolfisberg

Possible duplicate of #63 but I can attest to the same problem as described above, running version 1.4.6 on Android 8.0

Gregory-K avatar Jul 15 '21 19:07 Gregory-K

I'm running 1.4.6 on Android 10 though.

wolfisberg avatar Jul 16 '21 09:07 wolfisberg

Thanks for reporting this, Android 10 and 11 added some limitations in external folder access which are not consistent between different manufacturers. This results in the current implementation for external storage not working on some Android 10/11 devices. It's being worked on fixing these bugs/limitations in the file picker plugin used by Noteless: https://github.com/miguelpruivo/flutter_file_picker/issues/745

redsolver avatar Jul 28 '21 10:07 redsolver

I have the same issue on an Android 6 derivative, MIUI 10.2 (a Xiaomi platform).

glow12121 avatar Aug 18 '21 12:08 glow12121

Same here on Android 9.

JohnVeness avatar Sep 04 '21 21:09 JohnVeness

Same here, on Galaxy S9 running Android 10. I'll wait for the fix. Version 1.3.1 working well

felipemurro avatar Sep 08 '21 05:09 felipemurro

Same issue here on Samsung Galaxy note 9 running Android 10. @redsolver can you please comment on ETA. This is kinda deal-breaking important to me. Would appreciate a constructive response!

Fierce-Ninja avatar Oct 07 '21 18:10 Fierce-Ninja

@redsolver you mentioned that you are dependent on the file picker plugin issue. But I checked that link and it shows it has been fixed since July. What gives? Am I misinterpreting their fix and its impact on your app?

Fierce-Ninja avatar Oct 07 '21 18:10 Fierce-Ninja

The main issue is that how this works is not consistent between different manufacturers, so I can't really test it on my own devices. I will take a closer look at this issue in the next days and try to implement all changes made and recommended by the plugin I'm using, then I will publish a beta APK in this thread. It would then be essential that this beta APK is tested on as many different devices as possible.

redsolver avatar Oct 07 '21 19:10 redsolver

Thank you @redsolver for the prompt response. I will be happy to beta test on my device. Warning - not too technical here though, but will be happy to do whatever I can to help.

Fierce-Ninja avatar Oct 07 '21 21:10 Fierce-Ninja

@Fierce-Ninja here is the test APK, please let me know if it works. Thanks!

Beta APK Download link: https://siasky.net/AADBBPze_gDKbR3DzTrtH76Tcf9gg056igI6Z_fkyX8dEA

redsolver avatar Oct 24 '21 19:10 redsolver

Hi, I'm not @Fierce-Ninja , but just to let you know that this test APK doesn't fix the problem for me, on my Android 9 (Fxtec Pro 1).

JohnVeness avatar Oct 24 '21 20:10 JohnVeness

ok, so I just looked into the problem again. The linked PR only fixed an issue where picking directories would return an empty path as a result. It is now possible to pick directories and read files from there, but unfortunately Noteless can't write to the selected directory. This is likely because apps now need to use the Storage Access Framework to modify files in external storage. The advantages of using SAF are that you could for example pick a Google Drive folder and use that too (don't know if that works). Unfortunately Flutter/Dart doesn't seem to support using SAF to access files directly yet.

The feature Noteless needs is tracked here: https://github.com/miguelpruivo/flutter_file_picker/issues/721

redsolver avatar Nov 01 '21 16:11 redsolver

Hi guys, I can confirm that the beta doesn't solve the issue. Had it working before on android 11, but had to downgrade because of other things. On android 10 it doesn't work for me, sadly. Anyhow, best note taking app out there, thanks for that! I hope you'll get it fixed at some time.

stahlsau avatar Nov 04 '21 10:11 stahlsau