Uploading Folders into shared "upload only" folders flattens hierarchy

[tjohs]

Steps to reproduce

0. create a folder with content on local drive (e.g. \folder\text.txt, \folder\folder\text.txt)
1. create folder in NextCloud to share
2. share folder externally (i.e. email address)
3. adjust permission to "Upload Only"
4. open link in browser
5. drag&drop folder (step 0) into the browser window
6. files are uploaded (text.txt, text (2).txt)

Expected behaviour

Within the "shared folder" the dragged folder should be created, keeping the folder/files structure.

Actual behaviour

No folder is created. Only the contained files are uploaded. Files within different subfolders will be uploaded into the same "shared folder", folder hierarchy is not kept, files (from subfolders) that are already existing in the "shared folder" will be renamed "filename (2)"...
This can lead to useless uploads: assuming system backups of similar but not identical systems. They share same configuration file names but different content. If now the hierarchy is flattened while \System1\Conf\config.ini and \System2\Conf\config.ini are uploaded, the "shared folder" will contain "config.ini" and "config (2).ini", but you would not know which file belongs to which system backup...
This is only one of an endless variation of scenarios.

Server configuration

Operating system: Debian 9
Web server: Apache 2
Database: mysql
PHP version: 7.2.19
Nextcloud version: 16.0.1
Where did you install Nextcloud from: nextcloudpi
Are you using encryption: no

Client configuration

Browser: Firefox 67.0.1 (also tested on Microsoft Edge with similar result)
Operating system: Windows 10 / Windows 7

Conclusion

The option to share folders with colleagues/customers to simply upload files/folders is nice, but the described behaviour leads to useless data.
An alternative to creating folders as I would have expected would be to automatically create ZIPs upon uploading named as the folder(s)

EDIT: Still the same with NC24.0.6
EDIT: Still the same with NC27.1.7
EDIT: Still the same with NC28.0.3

[stleitner]

+1 , normal users do not understand why this is not working as expected. They say: "It just works on webservice XY"

[despens]

There is even more weird things going on when uploading a folder with sub-folders in chrome: the sub-folder appears in nextcloud as a zip file if there are conflicting names!

😕

[tjohs]

+1 , normal users do not understand why this is not working as expected. They say: "It just works on webservice XY"

:-) I think it does not only surprise "normal users", but also those running their own servers and thus having more technical background...

[stefandesu]

Any update on this? This was an issue for us as well, and I don't understand why this is the case since normal upload (so either on your own account or in a shared folder with "Allow upload and editing") allows uploading a folder structure. It should therefore be an easy fix, right?

[tjohs]

Unfortunately not.
Since this issue remains now since several versions of NC, I have sort of given up - although this is a really annoying problem and I cannot understand why this is not considered being a problem ... I agree, it feels like there should be a really easy fix.

I do not know where / how to get this noticed and actually worked on... So if anyone can assist with this, would be welcome!

[szaimen]

cc @nextcloud/sharing does it make sense keeping the folder/files structure. for upload only folders?

[despens]

@szaimen On the most basic level, if a user uploads a folder structure with two files that have the same name but are located in different folders, flattening the structure is causing data loss. (Apart from the fact that flattening file structure itself is data loss.)

[tjohs]

cc @nextcloud/sharing does it make sense keeping the folder/files structure. for upload only folders?

As @despens commented, it is essential to keep the folder structure not to confuse with the contained files being automatically renamed. One cannot check from which subfolder the files originated from. This is an absolute no-go!

Actually I wonder how this can be considered not to be worth solving...

[julpec]

same for me, I think it's a big problem not to keep the hierarchical directory structure. When you work in education and you ask for group work where each group turns in multiple documents, it's really unusable as it is.

[tjohs]

I fully agree. For me this is a major issue and I am surprised that this is not being solved since 2.5 years now. I have identified the issue with NC16 already and it is still present in NC24.0.6
Does anyone know, how the developpers can be pointed towards this issue? I had hoped that opening an issue here would be the right place, but obviously this is not the case

[rolfheij]

@tjohs Perhaps you can write a post on their forum?

[tjohs]

Had done this already... (actually this issue here was based on the suggestion of @JimmyKater )

https://help.nextcloud.com/t/files-drop-uploading-folders/54080/4

[despens]

Coming here to let everyone know that uploading folders to a shared file drop directory still does not work in nextcloud 26.0.3. This is really weird, why even use different uploading mechanisms for logged-in and not logged-in users?

[despens]

Happy belated 4th birthday to this issue! 🥳

[tjohs]

let's hope this finally get's solved ;)
thanks @labor4 to have checked this and reopened this issue

[despens]

@szaimen I want to suggest to leave the tag "bug" on this issue, since this behavior is causing data loss. This is not about enhancing nextcloud with some fancy new feature, like transcoding videos on upload or similar, it is about preventing data loss when files are uploaded to a file sharing service, where the user is given no clue that the upload was corrupted. Maybe a "data loss" tag would be useful in general?

Here is a video of what happens in nextcloud 26.0.3 when a folder is uploaded via a file drop share link:

upload.mp4

Any sub-folder structure is not preserved. Instead, files are being randomly renamed if there is a name conflict, and their context is lost. Which license.txt now belongs to what javascript file? Which print-instructions.txt belongs to which Indesign file?

The user-facing upload process gives no indication that the context was lost or that files were renamed.

This is serious, and actually worse than if nextcloud just prevented drop uploads of folders alltogether.

[szaimen]

Cc @nextcloud/designers @nextcloud/server-frontend

[marcoambrosini]

I also think this is a bug. This behaviour is confusing and misleading. If we allow uploading of folders there, folder structure should be preserved.

[Adenosintriphosphate]

Just wanted to mention that the hierarchy is also flattened when uploading on android. So maybe this sits deeper?

[astrojuanlu]

hey folks I don't know how the NC team prioritizes issues but please instead of leaving "any updates" comments, upvote the issue by reacting with 👍 on the first comment and optionally subscribe.

This is basic open source netiquette but basically if you don't see any updates, probably there aren't any updates, so no need to ask. There are lots of folks subscribed to this thread so every comment triggers a notification, please avoid that.

Peace and love ❤️

[susnux]

@astrojuanlu yes thank you!
Please upvote issues with the 👍 reaction on the initial post so we see what is the most important issue for the community to fix or feature to implement.