Part 3 · Projects, time and knowledge

Nextcloud and Collabora

Browse, preview, upload and share the files of your Nextcloud from Symbifox, and edit office documents online.

Symbifox 18.0 (September 2026 catalogue) · Modules: Nextcloud File Browser, Collabora Online, correctifs Blue Fox · Revised 2026-09-12

The Nextcloud application brings your files to where the work already happens: the folder tree of a project shows on the project record, the tree of a task on the task, and a full file browser lives in the main menu. It is meant for anyone who spends the day between a document folder and the tracking of an engagement. You browse, preview, upload, move and share without changing windows. The files themselves stay on your Nextcloud: Symbifox never copies them.

Overview#

Nextcloud is a file server your organization hosts, on its own premises or with its hosting provider. Symbifox does not replace it: it connects to it, reads its folder tree and acts on it for you.

Three doors lead to the same files:

• the Fichiers Nextcloud (Nextcloud files) tab on the record of a project or a task, limited to the folder of that record;
• the Nextcloud application in the main menu, a full browser that starts from a root folder set once and for all;
• the launcher in the system tray, a folder icon that opens Nextcloud itself in a window over your work screen.

The browser comes in two panes: the folder tree on the left, the content of the current folder on the right, with a breadcrumb to go back up. The columns sort by name, type, modification date and size, folders always staying at the top. A document opens in preview without leaving Symbifox, or directly in Nextcloud when it is an office document to edit.

On the Boréal demo, no connection is configured: the application simply announces that there is nothing to show.

The connection to Nextcloud is the same one the knowledge base documents use: you set it once, and both use it. A Knowledge base document can therefore keep its life cycle, its versions and its acknowledgements in Symbifox while its file lives on Nextcloud.

What sets the Symbifox approach apart: no file is duplicated. Where a classic attachment creates a second copy that ages on its own, the browser shows the real state of the server. And every action is bounded: the folder of a project, under the root folder, and nothing else.

Configuration#

Access and permissions#

Two rights, in Settings, on the user's record:

• Navigateur Nextcloud (Nextcloud browser): opens Nextcloud in the main menu, the Fichiers Nextcloud tab of projects and tasks, and the system tray launcher. This is the right to give everyone.
• Access to the configuration is reserved for administration: only an administrator sees Nextcloud › Configuration.

Permissions do not stop there. Before listing the folder of a project, the application checks that you have the right to read that project, and it finds the folder from the record itself. A person without access to the engagement does not reach its files, even knowing the path.

Settings#

Everything is set on a connection record, in Nextcloud › Configuration. On the demo, this screen is empty and invites you to create the connection.

The record holds the address of the server, the access path to the files, the service account and its app password, which is stored encrypted. Tester la connexion (test the connection) checks it all before you go off to work.

Then come the settings of the browser itself:

• Prefixe racine (navigateur) (root prefix, browser): the folder beyond which nothing can be reached, for example the folder of your organization. The standalone browser refuses to work until it is set.
• Extensions ouvrant Nextcloud (extensions that open Nextcloud): the file types whose opening leads to Nextcloud rather than to the built-in preview. This setting is what sends your office documents to the online editor.
• Couleur des dossiers (folder colour): the colour of the folder icons in the browser.
• Largeur du panneau (%) (panel width) and Hauteur du panneau (%) (panel height): the starting size of the window opened by the launcher. Each person can then resize it, and their preference wins.
• Expiration des partages (jours) (share expiry, in days) and Mot de passe sur les partages (password on shares): the default behaviour of the links created from the browser.

Online editing is set elsewhere, in Settings, on the Collabora Online page: the address of the editing server and its security settings on one side, and on the other the Durée de vie de la découverte (secondes) (discovery lifetime, in seconds), with Vider le cache maintenant (clear the cache now) so you do not have to wait after a server upgrade.

Base data#

Two things to prepare before working:

• the share presets (Prereglages de partage): an internal preset (read and write, for a colleague) and an external preset (read only, with expiry and password, for a client). These are the ones that appear when you create a link;
• the Nextcloud folder of each project, entered in the project's Settings tab. It is what fills the Fichiers Nextcloud tab. A task inherits the folder of its project, and can also carry its own Sous-dossier Nextcloud (tache) (Nextcloud subfolder, task).

Getting started#

This walkthrough connects Symbifox to a Nextcloud, then opens the folder of a Boréal engagement from its record.

1. Go to Nextcloud › Configuration and select New.
2. Enter a Nom (name), the URL Nextcloud (Nextcloud URL) of your server, the Chemin WebDAV (WebDAV path), the Utilisateur Nextcloud (Nextcloud user) of the service account and its Mot de passe d'application (app password).
3. Select Tester la connexion: a message confirms that the server answers.
4. Enter the Prefixe racine (navigateur), for example the folder of the organization, then select Save.
5. Go to Project › Projects, open an engagement and, in the Settings tab, enter its Dossier Nextcloud (Nextcloud folder).
6. Open the Fichiers Nextcloud tab of the project: the folder tree appears.
7. Drag a file from your computer onto the list: it uploads to the right place.

The file is on your Nextcloud, visible from the record of the engagement and from the browser under Nextcloud. The sections that follow show the everyday actions.

Common tasks#

Browse the folder of a project or a task#

The folder comes to the record, rather than the other way around.

1. Open the project or the task, in Project.
2. Open the Fichiers Nextcloud tab.
3. In the tree on the left, expand the folder you want; its content appears on the right.
4. Use the breadcrumb to go back up, and the column headers to sort by name, type, modification date or size.
5. For all your folders, outside any engagement, go to Nextcloud › Fichiers Nextcloud instead.

You see the real state of the server, not a copy. Folders stay grouped at the top of the list, whatever the sort.

Preview a document#

A preview saves the detour through the downloads folder.

1. In the file list, select the name of the file.
2. For an image, a PDF or a text file, the preview opens over the screen.
3. Close the preview to return to the list.

The preview is served by Symbifox, not by an outside service. A file of another type downloads instead of being shown.

Upload a file#

Two possible actions, depending on what you have at hand.

1. Go to the destination folder.
2. Select Televerser (upload), then choose one or more files.
3. Or drag the files from your computer directly onto the list.
4. Wait for the transfer to finish: the files appear in the list.

The files pass through Symbifox before reaching Nextcloud: convenient for working documents, less so for a video of several gigabytes, which is better deposited directly in Nextcloud.

Organize, rename and delete files#

The browser does the tidying up without another window being opened.

1. Select Nouveau dossier (new folder) to create a folder in the current folder.
2. To rename an item, open its context menu and choose to rename it.
3. To move a file, drag it onto the destination folder, in the list or in the tree.
4. To delete an item, open its context menu and choose to delete it.

The changes apply on Nextcloud: what you see elsewhere, in the desktop application or in the Nextcloud web interface, changes too.

Edit a document online#

A text, a spreadsheet or a presentation opens in a full editor, hosted on your infrastructure.

1. In the file list, select an office document.
2. The document opens in Nextcloud, in a new tab, with its online editor.
3. Edit the document: saving happens in place, in the original file.
4. Return to the Symbifox tab and refresh the list to see the new modification date.

There is no copy to download and no copy to deposit again. The file types concerned are set in Extensions ouvrant Nextcloud: a type missing from this list opens in preview.

Share a file by link#

The link is created where the file lives, not in another tab.

1. Open the context menu of the file and choose to create a share link.
2. Choose the preset: internal for a colleague, external for a client or a partner.
3. If needed, adjust the expiry.
4. Copy the link you get and send it.
5. When the preset protects the link with a password, give that password through a channel other than the link itself.

The link points to your Nextcloud: the file never leaves your server, and the recipient has no account to create. The permissions of the link are decided by the server, not by your browser.

Link a file to the knowledge base#

A document found in its context is worth more than a well-filed file.

1. Open the context menu of the file and choose to link it.
2. Choose the matrix item to attach it to.
3. Select Save.

The file joins the decision or the requirement it documents, in the Knowledge base, without a copy being made. Where Odoo's Knowledge application is installed, the link can also point to an article.

Open Nextcloud over your work#

For the actions the built-in browser does not cover, Nextcloud opens without making you leave the page.

1. In the system tray, at the top right, select the folder icon.
2. Nextcloud opens in a window over the current screen.
3. Resize the window: your preference is kept for the next times.
4. Select the icon again to close it.

This is the full Nextcloud, with its applications and its settings, not the Symbifox browser.

The menus, one by one#

Nextcloud: the menu of the application, with no screen of its own. It appears only to the people who have the Navigateur Nextcloud right.

Nextcloud › Fichiers Nextcloud: the standalone browser. Its toolbar carries a refresh button, Televerser, Nouveau dossier and Filtrer… (filter), which narrows the list as you type. In service, the screen splits into two panes: the tree on the left, the content of the folder on the right. On the demo, since no connection is configured, the screen simply announces that no configuration is available.

Nextcloud › Configuration: the Nextcloud connections, reserved for administration. The list shows the name, the address of the server, the service account, the company, and the date and result of the last synchronization. It is the same screen as Base de connaissances (knowledge base) > Configuration › Nextcloud Documents: a single connection serves both applications.

Reference#

Fields of the Nextcloud connection form#

Fields of the Share preset form#

Reports and exports#

The application produces no printable report. A file downloads from its record or from the preview, and is shared through a link pointing to your Nextcloud. For a versioned document, with its life cycle and its acknowledgements, see Knowledge base.

Automations#

The browser starts nothing by itself: everything happens at the moment you act. Two mechanisms do work in the background, however.

The monitoring of knowledge base documents runs every day: when a file linked to a document has changed on Nextcloud, a draft version and an activity are created for its owner. Nothing is imported on its own, because a deposited file is not yet a classified document.

The online editor, for its part, keeps the technical information of the editing server in memory for a configurable duration, rather than asking for it at each opening. The duration exists for a reason: after a server upgrade, information kept indefinitely would lead to a path that has disappeared.

Public pages and portal#

The application publishes no public page. The four addresses it serves, for preview and download, answer only to people who are signed in and authorized, and on verified paths. The share links, for their part, are public, but they are produced and served by your Nextcloud: Symbifox only asks for them.

Modules that extend this application#

Understanding#

The file does not move. Symbifox keeps no copy of the content: it holds the path, reads the information of the file and acts on the server at your request. This avoids the classic situation where the attachment of a record and the file in the shared folder tell two different stories.

Every action is bounded twice. The reachable path is derived from the open record, never from what the browser sends, and it must stay under the root prefix of the connection. A path that tries to climb higher is refused. That is why the standalone browser does not work until the root prefix is set: without it, there would be no boundary at all.

The preview is served by Symbifox, and without the right to execute. A file received from a third party could hold code meant to run in the page. The preview serves it with the type the server announces, and forbids any execution: a booby-trapped file is shown, it does not act.

The editor opens beside, not inside. Nextcloud refuses to be displayed inside another page, for security. The standalone browser therefore cannot embed it: the system tray launcher opens a real window, and an office document opens in a new tab. It is not a shortcut, it is the only honest way to proceed.

Fixing without rewriting. The online editor is free software, maintained by its original publisher. The Symbifox fixes are applied on top, without copying its code: you keep the updates of the one and the corrections of the other. Copying the connector would have meant redoing each of its corrections by hand, including those that touch access rights.

The limits. Files pass through Symbifox on upload, which bounds their size: very large files are better deposited directly in Nextcloud. Attaching to a knowledge article exists only if Odoo's Knowledge application is installed; otherwise, the file links to a matrix item. And online editing assumes that the editing server recognizes the domain of your Symbifox, which is set on the server side.

Troubleshooting#

See also#

• Knowledge base: the versioned documents whose files live on Nextcloud.
• Project: the Nextcloud folder of an engagement, and the files tab on projects and tasks.
• Settings and brand identity: the settings page of online editing.
• Secure transfers: when a share link is not enough and the send must be supervised.
• Common actions in every application: lists, filters, attachments, system tray.