nextcloud
[Bug]: Disabling existing folder sync makes notifications spawn continuously
⚠️ Before submitting, please verify the following: ⚠️
- [X] This is a bug, not a question or a configuration issue.
- [X] This issue is not already reported on Github (I've searched it).
- [X] Nextcloud Server and Desktop Client are up to date. See Server Maintenance and Release Schedule and Desktop Releases for supported versions.
- [X] I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct
Bug description
If you sync a folder to the local machine, then disable the synchronisation, the client keeps on spamming notifications about the fact that the folder exists locally, but that it isn't synchronised. While this can be useful if it happens once, when you start the client, it is actually repeated multiple times every single time the client connects to the network, which very quickly becomes annoying rather than informative.
The message reads as follows: "The folder [folder] was created but was excluded from synchronization previously. Data inside it will not be synchronized."
Steps to reproduce
- Sync a remote folder to the local machine
- Disable syncing without deleting the folder
- Disconnect and re-connect to the network (e.g. by putting the computer to sleep and then waking it)
Expected behavior
The notification is only presented once, when the client is started.
Which files are affected by this bug
A folder.
Operating system
Linux
Which version of the operating system you are running.
KDE Neon (based on Ubuntu 22.04)
Package
Distro package manager
Nextcloud Server version
29.0.6
Nextcloud Desktop Client version
3.13.2
Is this bug present after an update or on a fresh install?
Updated from a minor version (ex. 3.4.2 to 3.4.4)
Are you using the Nextcloud Server Encryption module?
Encryption is Enabled
Are you using an external user-backend?
- [ ] Default internal user-backend
- [ ] LDAP/ Active Directory
- [ ] SSO - SAML
- [ ] Other
Nextcloud Server logs
No response
Additional info
No response
The notification itself seems old: https://github.com/nextcloud/desktop/commit/e65caee9cff1b6ad2515006d0e0f9761b3f5eccc
It must be a new(er) bug that this message shows.
In my scenario
- Folder 1 (included in sync)
- Sub 1 (included in sync in the past, excluded from sync now)
- Sub 2 (included in sync)
I synced Sub 1 before. Whenever I save files in Sub 2 I get a notification that Sub 1 was created but won't be synced.
@mgallien you touched this area recently. Any ideas?
I have the exact same issue. Im using Tumbleweed, Gnome 47. This happens to both rpm and flatpak. It doesnt just happen when reconnected to the network, but in my case it happens every single time my client syncs and as far as i can tell I get this notification for every file that is in that folder. In my case, I sync my pictures in a folder called Pictures which also contains the Gnome Screenshots folder. I dont want to sync the screenshots I take across my devices, so the client spams me with the notification, that these files are excluded. My work-around is to delete the Screenshots folder on startup. It is incredibly annoying to the point where as an admin I install the flatpak app (without Nautilus Files integration, the nautilus Nextcloud extension only works for the rpm package) because then the app is sandboxed which allows me to mute all Nextcloud Desktop notifications. I really, really, desperately hope for a "mute all Nextcloud Desktop notifications" as well as a "mute 'files are not synchronized' " button, since I actually dont want to mute all notifications... So far there is only an option to mute calls or server notifications. I fail to understand why the not sandboxed Nextcloud Client installed via rpm doesnt respect the Gnome notification settings since other apps do. I would greatly appreciate such a setting. I absolutely love Nextcloud, I host my own server. This setting though is urgently necessary as those notifications makes the desktop client unusable if not used as flatpak. Thank you btw for all the work you guys put in, it is extraordinary how far this project has come.
Same here for EXISTING folders, yet only if some file is created, modified or deleted in a certain folder. My case:
- a self-hosted NC 28.0.14 on Arch and Desktop 3.15.3 on Arch.
- a GROUP folder (visible on user's NC root)
- Within that GROUP folder, there's a Photos folder
- The Photos primarily contains folders like 2023, 2022, … In sum 48 folders, 40 of which are deselected.
- Each time, any file is changed in ANY subfolder of GROUP (not only within Photos!), Desktop triggers 40 notifications. On KDE Plasma, it takes approx. 1min for them to disappear, rendering the left side of my screen rather useless ;)
However, the issue is NOT triggered when I create a NEW (normal OR groupfolder) folder structure and files:
(I did the same steps again with a group folder, and that also synced correctly NOT yielding notifications once a subfolder was excluded and files were changed within.)
EDIT: I did not change anything in the GROUP folder structure during the last years. This behavior only appeared since I disabled these folders recently as I realized that I don't need all old photos on my laptop.
While muting all notifications may be a temporary workaround for others, it's no workaround for me since I use notifications a lot. My workaround is to re-select all subfolders 2023, 2022, … and just sync the whole folder for the time being.
I just removed the sync (leaving the account active in Desktop) to verify whether the issue disappears when freshly synced and excluded. After having removed the folder in Desktop settings, I moved the local folder aside, re-created the folder and started the sync. Only after doing so I noticed that before (with the notifications issues) Desktop showed that I excluded the 2023, … folders but they still were PRESENT locally (which is wrong, so the issue was with Desktop (probably the one that was current when I excluded the files, but >= 3.14, probably >=3.15) did not properly delete the local folders). Anyway: After the fresh sync, only 2024 was synced, and I no longer get these notifications.
@Slater91, @PhiCecHey Please check whether the local folders of those folders you excluded are deleted locally. If not, just try to delete them (after having made sure that all their contents are on your cloud).
Naturally the "spam" gets worse the more directories you previously had synced but have excluded now.
@Slater91, @PhiCecHey Please check whether the local folders of those folders you excluded are deleted locally. If not, just try to delete them (after having made sure that all their contents are on your cloud).
That is viable but tedious. I'd prefer the client to be silent about the case.