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Attachments for events
Is there an option to add an attachments to calendar events? If not, please put it as enhancement.
Other CalDAV clients like thunderbird can already add attachments. The web calendar can't. Definitely something we should consider for the future. Instead of writing the attachment into the actual calendar data I would suggest to upload it to the nextcloud and just link there.
I agree. Attachments would be a great feature. Syncing by CalDAV should include the files.
@abditus please refrain from commenting when you can't add anything new. Use Github Reactions instead.
Is this on a roadmap / milestone / anything ? Having link support (like thunderbird) would be enough
@DavidVentura I have no intention to implement this soon. There are way more important features missing.
But as always: Pull requests welcome :)
Was giving a few thoughts to this issue recently.
- Should the editor offer the possibility to pick an existing file?
- When uploading a new file, should the editor let the user pick where to upload the file (or to a fixed
.calendar-attachmentshidden folder)? - Since the event may be shared/exported to people without access to the file, should the link to the file always be a public link? Or do we add a « public link » checkbox/toggle?
We can probably reuse the files app file picker to make things easier.
@georgehrke @jancborchardt
- Should the editor offer the possibility to pick an existing file?
- When uploading a new file, should the editor let the user pick where to upload the file (or to a fixed .calendar-attachments hidden folder)?
As a first iteration of implementing attachments, i would not allow uploading new documents at all. Only picking existing files from Nextcloud for now.
Later on we can add the possibility to upload new files. There is a related discussion going on in Talk right now, see https://github.com/nextcloud/spreed/issues/1811#issuecomment-505096933
Since the event may be shared/exported to people without access to the file, should the link to the file always be a public link? Or do we add a « public link » checkbox/toggle?
I think the link should always be public, but I'm not sure if we need a new share-type for that in the server. This can be a bit tricky. Even when you remove the attachment from a desktop or mobile client, the public link should automatically be unshared.
No matter what we do, if we automatically make the file public, we need some code changes in the server to detect if the attachment has been removed again.
So for now i would say just include the internal https://nextcloud.local/f/666666 link and find a proper solution for public attachments for Nextcloud 18.
Since I don't know whether attachments can be based on the caldav standard, I think the best option would be to automatically write the internal link of the attached file into the description-field. Otherwise you probably get problems with some calendar client apps.
But these attachments should when directly uploaded or chosen from the computer to get uploaded be located in the appdata folder as suggested here: https://github.com/nextcloud/spreed/issues/1811#issuecomment-505096933 and the internal link of this file then also automatically peopagated onto the decription field imo.
Also I am not sure about automatically making all these attachments publicly accessible. So the internal link is more appropriate imho.
Maybe when sharing the calendar event with a nextcloud user, an internal link for this user could be created (and automatically pasted into the description field) and when sharing the event with a mailaddress or over a link, also a public link to this file should be created (and also automatically pasted into the description field). The same could apply to sharing whole calendars.
BTW: maybe you can also use the viewer app to show these attached files directly in the calendar app since https://github.com/nextcloud/viewer/pull/271 is merged? :)
I didn't follow the developement up to this point, so please disregard my posting if it has already been taken care of: Reading something about internal links I wonder if regular calendar apps like the one from Thunderbird will work in a way the user is used to handle calendar attachements. To me this seems a very important requirement for acceptance of this solution within the users.
- When uploading a new file, should the editor let the user pick where to upload the file (or to a fixed .calendar-attachments hidden folder)?
As a first iteration of implementing attachments, i would not allow uploading new documents at all. Only picking existing files from Nextcloud for now.
Yep, good call. And similar as in Talk, once we do allow uploading files, for those there should indeed be a fixed hidden folder.
As a first iteration - why not. But just keep in mind this will lead to a different behavior when you use the calendar in Nextcloud compared when you use it on your phone / Lightning / etc.
Thunderbird lightning does not allow you to add attachments as files, only as links (Thank god for that)
So that would be exactly the same behaviour as in Nextcloud, just that we show a file-picker for Nextcloud and add the link to the file, instead of allowing to add arbitrary web links.
So if you add a file in Nextcloud, it would show up as https://nextcloud.tld/f/777772 in Thunderbird and if you click it, you will have to log in.
Edited my original text, having read @georgehrke 's opinion on this in an older support thread: https://help.nextcloud.com/t/idea-app-for-organizing-partys-meetings-events/6486/4
My original comment was indeed more a Resources thing than pure attachments.
Related: https://github.com/nextcloud/calendar/issues/2415
If an image is selected, it should replace the automatically generated event image in details view.
Or even: Always show a file preview (if available) instead of the automatically generated event image in details view.
Multiple files attached? only show one preview
We too would like to have attachments for calendar events. Attachment can come from nextcloud user files. To make user's life simpler, a simple "select file or upload new file" should be added to the calendar event editor. And share permission on the just uploaded/shared file should be copied from shared permission of the calendar.
The draft RFC that might come in handy: https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-calext-caldav-attachments-03.html
EDIT: It's now published as RFC 8607
If there's anyone out there to implement it, don't do it for free: I think I know a NGO that might pay for the feature development.
This issue has been open for 5 years and it's not clear if anybody is going to work on it.
It keeps being added and removed to milestones, but no ETA is provided.
The inability to add attachments to events currently prevents me from seriously using NC Calendar, since basic events like concerts or team meetings usually come with attachments. The current solution (i.e. upload the files to some other folder, generate a shareable link and attach it to the description) is messy and frankly unacceptable from a modern calendar client.
After >30 votes and 5 years of comments, can we get an ETA, or understand if at least any of the maintainers are willing to pick this up? IMHO the "create a PR if you're so interested" card can only be played that many times...
IMHO the "create a PR if you're so interested" card can only be played that many times...
Let's do it one more time though. This is something everybody would like, but no one is currently available to work on this, so please don't have any expectations at all until this issue is closed. This feature having an issue is not a sign it's going to be implemented soon. Using milestones when something isn't planned was a mistake made in the past, that's why there's not one anymore.
If this is something you'd want to push, feel free to contact Nextcloud GmbH or ask for people doing freelancer work in https://help.nextcloud.com/c/nextcloud-freelancing/48
Thunderbird lightning does not allow you to add attachments as files, only as links (Thank god for that)
KOrganizer/Kontact adds those as files. How should those use-cases be handled? I don't know which standard is used by I suspect the before mentioned RFC8607.
KDE's KOrganizer and everything that uses KCalendarcore such as the Sailfish OS Calendar app uses RFC8607 for calendar attachments as can be seen here: https://invent.kde.org/frameworks/kcalendarcore/-/blob/master/src/icalformat_p.cpp#L1530
Thunderbird lightning does not allow you to add attachments as files, only as links (Thank god for that)
So that would be exactly the same behaviour as in Nextcloud, just that we show a file-picker for Nextcloud and add the link to the file, instead of allowing to add arbitrary web links.
So if you add a file in Nextcloud, it would show up as https://nextcloud.tld/f/777772 in Thunderbird and if you click it, you will have to log in.
NOFI but that's pretty dumb. Yes, storing files in nextcloud is great, and using a link instead of the actual file is very smart. I know tons of orgs that keep sending files back and forth in 20 versions which makes a mess. HOWEVER, it is still very dumb.
I may have only access to a (shared) calendar, but no access to the file, so now I don't have access this resource. Or, I'm on mobile, I just want to get to the attachement from my calendar, but alas, it'll open a link, which now I also need data for (calendar syncing would have had the file already), but I have very poor/metered connection.
So while I can certainly see the advantage of 'links only' or 'only resources accessible to the same instance' for an end user this is NOT that useful.
Just my €0,02 :)
@oliv3r How do you suggest storing the attachments? What mail client provides this feature as you described it? Also, I think it's rude to call someones opinion dumb.
On another note, how do I donate to this specific cause?
@oliv3r How do you suggest storing the attachments? What mail client provides this feature as you described it? Also, I think it's rude to call someones opinion dumb.
On another note, how do I donate to this specific cause?
Since Korganizer (or Kalendar, I forget which one I tried) does it just fine, and Gmail and outlook also do it just fine within the spec, I doubt it should be a real issue. AFAIk even Thunderbird used to do it a long long time ago :)
As for the dumbness, the opinion is their own, there's nothing with that. The suggested implementation is dumb :)
Since Korganizer (or Kalendar, I forget which one I tried) does it just fine, and Gmail and outlook also do it just fine within the spec, I doubt it should be a real issue. AFAIk even Thunderbird used to do it a long long time ago :)
Since Gmail is the easiest to test, I tried to add an attachment to a calendar appointment and it shows me a Google Drive popup to select or upload a file. The file is then only available through drive, not locally. How to replicate the behaviour you're describing?
Since Gmail is the easiest to test, I tried to add an attachment to a calendar appointment and it shows me a Google Drive popup to select or upload a file. The file is then only available through drive, not locally. How to replicate the behaviour you're describing?
Hmm, interesting, they changed this behavior it seems, to lock you into drive. Understandable of course, as you can actually manage a file this way, but this was not always the case!
People, please... It is not important which soft-client supports this feature. Very important for me is, that all my Clients switch to Group Office only for the feature. Please don't discuss it, simply develop it and we save many hours and money. Thanks!
Hmm, interesting, they changed this behavior it seems, to lock you into drive. Understandable of course, as you can actually manage a file this way, but this was not always the case!
I will have to take your word for it.
People, please... It is not important which soft-client supports this feature. Very important for me is, that all my Clients switch to Group Office only for the feature. Please don't discuss it, simply develop it and we save many hours and money.
Which feature now?
- Inline attachment to the iCalendar file?
- Implement RFC 8607?
- A Nextcloud file url?
The RFC introduction explains the issue nicely, the iCalendar data format and iTIP protocol are not suited for inline attachments. Two choices remain, either by extending the data format an protocol publicly with an RFC or have a (proprietary) third-party filesharing platform handle storage and access.
While the RFC provides a nice feature suspect implementing it will not be trivial so having a file selector insert the correct file url could be an useful intermediate step. Would this improve your situation already?
What's a rough estimate for both approaches? I'm willing to spend 50$ on this, maybe we could even have both.