Content:
1 BioDivCloud invitation
If the admin or one of the group admins created an BioDivCloud user account for you you must have received an invitation via email (see image below). Click on the link in the email and follow the prompted instructions to create a password for your account. User accounts can only be created by group admins or system admins. If you want or need an account for someone, please contact screenforbio@gmail.com.
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Fig. 01, Left Invitation mail to the BioDivCloud. Click on “Set your password” to create a password for your account. |
Fig. 01, Right Dashboard after login to the BioDivCloud. |
2 BioDivCloud Web interface
After log-in you will find several icons in the upper left representing different features the BioDivCloud. The first icon, the circle, represents the dashboard. The second, the folder icon, represents the folder system of the cloud storage. Depending on your account you might have access to different folders. Group folders can be seen by all group members and can only be created by group or system admins. You might not have full permission to read and write in every folder or your permissions might be restricted to certain levels to avoid messing up of the folder system by people creating various folders. In some folder you will find Readme.md files, which give you more information on what’s inside those folders. You can create your own Readme.md files in the folders your created to give others and yourself orientation on what is to find in the respective folders.
3 BioDivCloud on your local computer with the Nextcloud client
Nextcloud offers a client that allows to synchronize a local folder
on your computer with an online cloud folder. It integrates with your
local file manager and allows you synchronization of local folder with
the cloud but also to create share links or sharing of data with other
Nextcloud users same way as with Nextcloud web interface. You can check
out the official
Nextcloud
Client manual for more details.
If you are not already using Nextcloud you have to install the Nextcloud
client first (see 3.1 Install Nextcloud client).
3.1 Open Nextcloud client
If you have the Nextcloud client already installed open it and open
the main dialog (Fig. 03, Left) and click and
“
Add
account” to add your BioDivCloud account to your profile. Then go to
point 3.3.
3.2 Install Nextcloud client
If you have install client first you must first download the Nextcloud desktop client for your operating system. The installation procedure is the same as for any software application: download the program and then double-click it to launch the installation, and then follow the installation wizard. After it is installed and configured the sync client will automatically keep itself updated. After installation it is recommended to reboot your computer to ensure the Explorer extension is correctly loaded. After reboot the Nextcloud client will automatically start and prompt a welcoming window on your screen (Fig.04, Middle) where you are asked to connect to your Nextcloud.
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Fig. 04, Left Main user dialog of the Nextcloud client.
Click on the
to
add your BioDivCloud account to your profile.
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Fig. 04, Middle Menu of the Nextcloud desktop client after installation or after when adding an account from the main user dialog. Click “Log in to your Nextcloud”. | Fig. 04, Right Enter the URl of the BioDivCloud into the text field and click “Next”. |
3.3 Add BiodivTeam account to client
Click on Log in to your Nextcloud to connect to the BioDivCloud a new window will appear (Fig.04, Middle). Type the URL of the BioDivCloud https://nx22080.your-storageshare.de into the text field (Fig. 04, Right) and proceed. Now your web browser should open and prompt you to login into BioDivCloud. Enter your user name and password in your web browser and grant access. After you did that, go back to the client window. Click on “Nextcloud” on the right side (Fig. 05, Left) to chose where your Nextcloud folder should be stored in your local filesystem. An Explorer window will open displaying your local folder structure (Fig.05, Right). Create a folder at the desired place, name it BioDivCloud, chose the folder and click on select folder. Now this folder will be synchronized with your BioDivCloud.
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| Fig. 05, Left Installation wizard after you granted access to your BioDivCloud. Click on “Nextcloud” to define where your local Nextcloud Folder should be saved. | Fig. 05, Right Create a new folder somewhere inside your home directory to be synchronized with your cloud and name it BioDivCloud. |
4 Sharing data
Basically Nextcloud offers you the same options to share data with
others like they are familiar from other clouds like Dropbox,
GoogleDrive or OneDrive. You can grant other users only read or write
permission, permissions to create or delete files and folder within a
shared folder, or allow sharing items with third people. A shared folder
will be added to the root of another users Nextcloud.
Or you can create links that you can use for sharing for people that do
not use Nextcloud. The link will open a browser window, which will lead
only to the linked folder or file. You can set an expiring date or
password protection for these links and shares, or you can disable
download or allow only upload of data.
4.1 Sharing from the online web interface
To share a file or folder in the online web interface you have to
click on the sharing icon
and a sidebar will appear with the sharing options . To create a link
click on the add icon
. To
restrict the permissions of the link please click on the more icon
and
select from the options, e.g. set an expiring date.
To simply share a folder or file with another Nextcloud user you can
type it’s name or e-mail into the open field. The user will receive an
email that it was invited to a data share and if it accepts the share
the folder or file will appear at the root of its Nextcloud scaffolding.
If you want to share files or folders with people inside the team it is
recommended to use the advanced permission area of the online web
interface. Here you can grant if single users or groups permissions
(e.g. read only, read & write, allow sharing with others etc.). As
mentioned before, if you use the advanced permission area the shared
folders will appear within the normal scaffolding of the other user if
it has also at least reading access to all superior folders. If the
cooperator has no read permission to the superior folders, the folder
will not appear in the cooperators folder structure at all. Thus please
think twice if it is not easier to share a superior folder before your
share two subfolders.
4.2 Sharing local folders from your computer
Of course you can also initiate shares from a synchronized folder if
you have the Nextcloud client installed. To do so right click on the
respective file or folder in your explorer and chose “Nextcloud” and go
on “Share options” (Fig. 06 Left). The new menu offers
you the same options, you can type an email address into the search
field to share a folder with another Nextcloud user or a Nextcloud group
(e.g. “BioDivTeam”) or you can create links for sharing (Fig. 06
Right). The window will also show you with whom you shared the
folder already and you can edit those sharing permission here by
clicking the more icon
on
the right side.
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| Fig. 06, Left right click on the respective file or folder in your explorer and chose “Nextcloud” and go on “Share options”. | Fig. 06, Right Sharing from your local folder offers the same options like the web interface. |