E Cloud on Fairphone - user friendly help for non-geek please

I am a normal person using eOS on FP3 and I would really like this to work as I hate the GAFAs - I am happy to go the extra mile and pay when necessary (I am looking into cloud storage now but I am about to give up) - it is not easy, unless spending a lot of time on tech forums is your free time hobby (I have a full-time job and a child, so not my case).
I wish you had two forums, one for the tech folk and one the normal people - I am computer literate and used a whole range of software throughout my life, but I do not have the time to find out about ‘forks’ and ‘beta-versions’ - honestly!!
I have managed to use eOS on my FP3 in a very basic way.
I would like to use cloud function for sharing pictures with others etc - e-cloud functionality looks interesting but it is pretty hard to understand how exactly e-cloud works, what it synchronises and what it doesn’t - when I click on help in my Cloud account (via PC) I get taken to Next Cloud (!?) - and I wonder “am I subscribed to Next Cloud or Cloud - should I subscribe to Next Cloud or do I need Next Cloud App to access Cloud?” - I have looked at my E Cloud account on PC and have found a lot of random files which I cannot exactly make out on my phone - it looks like some files but not others got synchronised automatically, in any case E-OS is not made to make it obvious what is stored where.
Would be grateful for a basic user guide and see answers to my questions,
Swaan

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

Hi @Swaan_FP3 , welcome to the forum/eWiki!

I was just working on trying to answer questions just such as yours! :slight_smile:

Quick reply: There are several things there - none too difficult but jolly difficult to find when you first arrive.

Let me try to give you a glimpse of the non-existent hashtag #getting-started.

Is there a manual?

No. How To pages are avaiable in two locations. These are the curated /e/ documentation How Tos and this is the community list List of HOWTOs & add your suggestions. Be sure to take advantage of the Table of Contents.

A useful way of finding out what’s on the forum/eWiki is with knowledge of Categories and tags we use. Check out the Categories page

Three documentation levels

Navigation on three levels.

  • Categories page we have quite a mixture of largely unmoderated, quality topics to more lighweight theads.
  • The category #ewiki is collaborative and contains many of the item metioned above, the list of [HOWTO]'s available on the site and Installation Document suggestions. However the #ewiki section does not share all the same hashtags as the forum.
  • The /e/documentation section is recogniseable by the /e/ branding. These pages often do not come up when you search the forum and eWiki, so please, initially, keep bookmarks of the /e/ branded pages you might need.

Please be sure to get proficient at searching!

If you give that 10 minutes - please tell me what you find missing (#guinea-pig :slight_smile: )

Bon chance

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Thank you very much for getting back - the how to pages look really useful for all sorts of advanced queries - but I cannot find a basic guide that explains how e-cloud works, what its relationship to next cloud is and how to use it with E-OS. I need to understand where in E OS can I control ECloud and decide which local files sync and see a clear file plan/content list for E OS?

There is very specific information under the how-to e-cloud section about syncing from google and Thunderbird, but first I need to understand how e cloud works on my phone.
I hope you can help, Swaan

Hi, you are still asking multiple questions!

I will take a guess - you want a practical way to see what’s going on.

Let’s try to install Nextcloud app. If you think that jumps you in too deep just uninstall it.

Please remember if you previously used Google they would have automated perfectly normal things so you forgot how to tie your shoelaces! :slight_smile:

PS ecloud is an instance of Nextcloud!

Oh yes …you have to be selective in your searches!

If we could #hashtag the #getting-started you would find this easier! There are good elementary How To there. How to sort them for someone in your position??

Again, please redefine you biggest issue! :slight_smile:

It simply syncs a bunch of usual_suspects onto the cloud, but it (half)tells you what is going on (when you know where to look) while Google just grabs that stuff, and one is surprised that third parties can find your best friend!

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Thanks again - what means ‘is an instance of’ - do they work together? can I use NextCloud App to control what I put on ECloud from my FP3?

I never used other clouds but would really like to use cloud if safe and private.

Don’t let others confuse you. You ask for ecloud, someone tells you something about nextcloud.

The only thing you have to check is the configuration of ecloud on your mobile device. Go into system settings, accounts.

There must be an account for your part of ecloud. In this account you have a lot of synchronization settings. You can configure it one by one to synchronize contacts, calendar and mail but not the images and so on. If you don’t see an ecloud-account there you must create one yourself. You need your ecloud-email-address and the password for this.

Above all the accounts in the settings there’s also a general switch to turn synchronization on or off. This must be on if you want to use any cloud.

You definitely don’t have to install something anywhere.

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Do you know why? No file synchronisation?

I said you can configure all that. As you want. I could also have written “not the contacts but all the images”.

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Thank you Irrlicht that’s helpful however the sync settings under account are really basic, calendar and contacts.
When I log into my e-account from PC I can see there us lots more functionality for picture syncing and sharing however it is not clear how to control these from my phone, which I thought was the whole point of cloud?

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I don’t know why. (I don’t use this ecloud at all.) In my ecloud account are eight different options:

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Ah Thanks for that. I found it now, I swear it wasn’t there earlier though :wink:

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It don’t look like this in my e-0.9-p,
Only one switch " files " for all

I can apreciate the /e/team’s work !

Edit : Or must i activate the others by browser ?

My picture is from e-0.17-q. You haven’t made a system update for a year. Great.

No, all required the settings are on the device, not on the website.

( Off-Topic because don’t use FP3 )
It is not avialable for the moment, it is unofficial, with no update, the builder is now doing something else in his life.

official is e-0.13-n,
unofficial-e-0.9-p is working very well,
unofficial-e-0.14-q have a non working dialer.

Pie, Q and R also are buildable for the s4mini, on xda-forum

Yes, but the OP wrote about an FP3, probably with /e/ preinstalled, so it get’s also actual and official OTA updates and runs now probably on /e/ 0.17. - If you look for help about a much older software it’s a different and more problematic case (because only a few other people will still have this).

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Can I please have more help with getting Cloud working? I have installed Nextcloud on Phone and desktop and signed up to a provider - but when I try to log into my Nextcloud on the desktop I am asked to provide a server address

Is NextCloud accessible to normal people via their normal computer? It sounds like yes but I cannot find any instructions, argghh.

I will just mention our starting point in the OP,

I wonder “am I subscribed to Next Cloud or Cloud - should I subscribe to Next Cloud or do I need Next Cloud App to access Cloud?”

I choose to avoid the word cloud in this context and use “server”, which I niavely define as the data sharing and storage capability of a remote computer.

Nextcloud is a useful application, I called it an “instance” earlier, meaning Nextcloud is installed on the remote server and open for business.

Your phone has been pre-configured to jump straight onto the server (with your logon credentials you used in the startup wizard (perhaps 1 minute after /e/ very first opened for you). This is deeply built into the phone because /e/ uses the functionality inherited by Google’s contribution to Andriod.

You have looked for the controls and switches and found it hard to visualise what they do. ? Tell me if I’m wrong.

I suggested if you put Nextcloud on your phone, some of the functionality of Nextcloud might be exposed to you (and you might feel more in control). I completely accept this might not illuminate some folks, in which case uninstall it - absolutely nothing changes either way!

Primarily, Nextcloud will aim to synchronise all the folders it has been asked to deal with, (including from the very start your contacts list, your email and others).

If you put Nextcloud on your PC we have a triangle to visualise.

Are you ready to visualise a triange?

You are asking so I will answer, the address of the server is https://ecloud.global, yes, your PC can login with the details you used to login your phone.

Edit You can log into this address, of course, from your phone and inspect the contents of your “space” on the server.

Disclaimer, this is a two minute explanation, not necessarily 100% technically accurate, but aiming to help with visualising the arrangement!

Do feel free to ask again.

But

Can I please have more help with getting Cloud working?

In what way is it not working?

Bon chance