'Processing' indicator for AutoUpload

[jeffWelling]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

When you tell the NextCloud app to AutoUpload a camera dir with >3000 images in it, the app needs to process each of the images before it begins uploading but there is no visual indicator or mention that this processing needs to be done. This creates an experience where the user tells the app to upload a directory and from the user's perspective nothing is happening, potentially leading them to conclude the feature is broken. In fact, the app is busy processing the files and will begin uploading them shortly.

Describe the solution you'd like

A visual indicator or notification to the user that the app is processing the requested uploads and that file transfers will be visible in the Uploads section only when processing is completed.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Leaving it as is can lead reasonable users to conclude that the feature is broken when it is not.

Additional context

I had problems with autoupload, and from the Issues page I can see that I'm by no means the only one.
I've done some further testing, and I think I've narrowed down the behavior I'm seeing, and perhaps others are seeing too.

Background
When Google announced changes to their google photos offering, I began looking for a new solution. However I've already been using this phone for a couple years now, so the photos and videos on it that I want to back are numerous. There's about 15K items that I want to backup, about 60GB. I suspect the situation of having a large directory to upload from your phone to NextCloud is not uncommon.

My workflow when I was testing out NextCloud was as follows:

• Install Nextcloud on my Android device
• Login to Nextcloud on Android device
• Explore a bit, find the AutoUpload feature
• Configured AutoUpload to upload most of dirs on my phone with files I wanted uploaded (60GB of camera images, whatsapp memes and videos, demo videos from slack, the works) all in one go.
• Waited for something to happen, nothing happened. Went to the Upload section, nothing was happening. Checked webserver logs, they were idle.
• Went into AutoUpload and un-selected and then re-selected everything. Waited again, nothing happened anywhere that I could see on the phone or webserver.
• Uninstalled NextCloud from my phone concluding that the one feature I was after - autoupload - was broken
• Pondered some more, chatted with a friend who used it before and tried to give it one more go
• This time I figure'd I'd start with one dir, and just for the hell of it lets start with the dir with the fewest images, the one with 42 images in it.
• Almost right away, I started seeing upload notifications on my phone and webserver logs flying past my screen, it was working!
• Ok, let's try another folder, a little bit larger, 330 images this time.
• A longer delay than before, almost a minute or two this time, but eventually it began working too!

This is where it occurred to me that the duration between telling it to upload and it actually uploading is related to the number of items in the directory, and there's no visual indicator that the app is doing anything, so the user concludes it's broken.

I've tested this with both images and video now and it's working for me, patience in relation to the number of items being processed is a recipe for success.

Phone: Samsung SM-G965W
Android Version: 10
NextCloud Android app version: 3.15.1
NextCloud OS: Debian 10 "Buster"
NextCloud Version: 21.0.0

[jeffWelling]

Overnight I tried to leave it AutoUploading my camera roll, just over 3K items in it. Before going to bed, I configured it autoupload that directory. Nothing was happening when I hit save and I thought it was still processing and went to sleep.

This morning I wake up to find that none of the items have uploaded and there is no error from NextCloud on my phone as to why. Seems like there may be a scale problem with this feature.

[jeffWelling]

Another night, another experience. This morning I woke up to find it was uploading my camera roll.

If a 'processing' indicator is implemented, it might be a good idea to show the filename being processed as well, so the user can tell it isn't stuck or re-processing the same image in a loop, and instead can see that it's making forward progress even if it isn't uploading yet.

[tobiasKaminsky]

The visual progress indicator should be the upload queue.
For each run auto upload should detect new/pending items and queue them there.

Additional we could have an info like "Last auto upload ran at xx:yy" within auto upload view.
Something similar like:

[jeffWelling]

Your response.. has me wondering if perhaps you responded without reading more than the title of the issue I filed? I was rather specific about what I'm seeing and I feel like maybe you forgot that bit in your response?

The visual progress indicator should be the upload queue.

Ah, ok, so does that mean that there is a bug with the autoupload feature?

I should could have elaborated more on my test methodology. I mentioned I went to Uploads and nothing was happening, to be specific, nothing showed as being uploaded, having been uploaded, or pending to be uploaded. If what you say is true, then I should have seen a list of files in the Upload section, correct?

I've mentioned before, I'd like to mention it again, I think the problem here is scale. You've mentioned in another ticket that you don't think testing is done with large camera rolls, and I'm starting to think that's where the friction that I and many others are experiencing because we do have pre-existing camera rolls.

As I explained above, it seems like there is a delay between telling it to AutoUpload a folder and when it actually begins uploading that folder, and the delay appears to be roughly proportional to the number or size of items being processed in my testing.

That's where this feature request comes from. I think it would be a much improved user experience if there was something to show the user that a large folder is being processed but hasn't begun uploading yet.

[tobiasKaminsky]

I read it, and sorry if I was too brief on this.
My idea is not to fix the symptom (not seeing that auto upload is doing something), but fixing auto upload.
As soon as auto upload found a new item, it should be shown in upload queue.
In reality it seems that it first tries to scan everything and then updates upload queue.

So, imagine it would work correctly, then you would see with each run some new items (auto upload is a background job and therefore is terminated at some time by Android, so it will never complete in one run in such a big scenario).

Would this be good from you UX wise?

[hlovdal]

In reality it seems that it first tries to scan everything and then updates upload queue.

It might be perfectly fine keep the algorithm exactly as it is today, just add a status message:

• Awesome level 1
  • Right before the initial scan starts, add a "Initial scan for files to synchronize started at <timestamp>" on the screen (which is removed after scan is done and before files displayed).
• Awesome level 2
  • Same as level 1 but with details about which directories it scans (/sdcard/DCIM/Camera, /sdcard/Downloads, etc).
• Awesome level 3
  • Same as level 2 but with periodic status updates "X files found so far".
• Awesome level 4
  • Same as level 3 but in case of searching multiple directories, they get a green tick mark when they are done.

Although it might also be beneficial to change the algorithm a tiny bit so that the first file found is synced right away so that any end to end problem will be detected immediately. With a status message "1 initial file successfully synchronized" I am perfectly happy to let the phone spend whatever time it needs to gather a list of files before actually start pushing data to the server.

[sadr0b0t]

Came here to leave the same feature request and found this one. I have phone with >100 Gb photos/videos (this looks normal these days), configured autoupload and now have to wait for hours and even days before upload actually begins without any visual feedback. I just don't know if app is indexing something or the system just killed it and nothing happens. The only thing I need is a small panel which shows something like "its ok, I'm indexing your files", event better - with currently indexed file name which would change along the indexing progress, so the user will see that indexing itself is not stuck.