I have access to an ownCloud server at work and I set up a shared folder with my partner’s personal ownCloud account stored on oCloud. It seems to be set up correctly: my partner can see the files that I put on the shared folder (when using the web browser access), and conversely.
When I add files on my computer to the shared folder, my client syncs it immediately to the work server, as expected.
I expected also that the oCloud server would see the new file appear on the shared folder, and that the desktop sync client of my partner would add the new file to her hard drive. But this does not happen automatically: the oCloud server seems to not contact the client it is syncing with to warn about the new file. Only when my partner accesses the shared folder on the oCloud server with her web browser does her client suddenly realize that something new arrived, and only then does the file reach her hard drive.
For short, my expectation is:
client-synced-to-work-server ⇒ work-server ⇒ oCloud-server ⇒ client-synced-to-oCloud-server
But it seems that’s rather:
client-synced-to-work-server ⇒ work-server ⇒ oCloud-server X client-synced-to-oCloud-server
Where the X link activates only when my partner manually refreshes the web browser.
This is of course quite annoying as it requires me to warn my partner when I add a file, so that she knows she has to go browse using the oCloud web access manually, before the file appears.
I have found only a slightly related note in the documentation, which mentions that “ownCloud may not always be able to find out what has been changed remotely (files changed without going through ownCloud), especially when it’s very deep in the folder hierarchy of the external storage”. However, I expected this would not apply in this case as it is not an external storage but a shared folder and it happens between two ownCloud servers (I expect that making sharing work perfectly between, say, SMB and ownCloud must be more difficult).
Thus, I wonder: is this a known limitation of shared folders? Is this documented somewhere? Or is it because something is wrong with oCloud’s server? (I would then ask oCloud if they can solve the problem or suggest my partner to change hosting company.) Can I work around this problem somehow in order to not have to manually refresh when a new file is shared?
maybe you could also use the issue template which i’m getting presented when creating a new thread in this “Server” category?
I think others are probably better able to help you if you provide more information about your environment (e.g. operating system, database, database version, specific database configuration). Those are all questions asked in that template which i think are asked for a good reason.
At the moment nearly everything is missing, even the ownCloud version you are using (e.g. an outdated ownCloud version on your local or on the remote instance could cause this problem).
Thanks for your reply. Actually, I am not sure the Server category is the right choice for my question (but other categories didn’t seem to fit better). The Server category seems to be addressed at server managers, which I am not. I am a user. I don’t know which operating system, database, database version, specific database configuration these servers use.
I was wondering if the behavior I observe (as an external user, not as a manager of those servers) is expected because this would be a know limitation of owncloud’s shared folders. I hope I can find someone who uses this and who could simply tell me: “well, for me it works” (in which case I will contact oCloud knowing that this is supposed to work and ask that they please do something about it); or, “no, it’s known that this feature needs more work, don’t expect it to work as you describe here” (in which case I know there’s no point in bothering oCloud support service or trying to switch hosting server, and I’ll try to find a workaround). Or perhaps, yet another answer that would enlighten me, such as “you misunderstood the point of this shared folder feature, you’d better use such or such other feature to achieve what you want”…
You are right that I should have provided the versions of ownCloud running on the servers I access: “ownCloud 10.3.2 (stable)” for the work server; and “ownCloud 10.1.1 (Free Version)” for oCloud. But I’d be happy about an answer concerning the latest version of ownCloud, for the same reason: if I know that this feature is supposed to work with recent versions of ownCloud, I have an argument for asking the managers to solve the problem (including by upgrading if they see fit) ,or I can search for other hosters.
@tom42 Do you have perhaps some further advice about how to clarify my question? I have tried to rephrase it here, thinking that this one was too complicated.
Basically my question is very simple: I wonder if files are supposed to appear automatically on the other side of a Shared folder through the ownCloud sync client; or if a refresh using the web browser is always needed. I suppose that many readers of this forum know the answer to this question (Shared folder seems like a very useful feature, and if one has used it, one will know if files are synced correctly as this seems like a must-have functionality). But I received no answer, and ignore why.
In particular, is it clear why the details such as OS, database, and the like can’t be provided in the case of this question, and are unnecessary anyway?
