Shared files: Nextcloud team folders
Team folders are Nextcloud's version of Google's shared drives. They belong to NFE rather than to one person, and the group you're in decides which ones you can open. Join a group and you see its folders; leave it and they're gone. Nobody has to share or unshare individual files.
Our team folders
| Team folder | What goes in it | Who can open and edit it |
|---|---|---|
| NFE Business | Sites and customers (Sezibwa Rentals, Pearl Marina), proposals, fundraising and pitch decks, partner and community updates, conference and market material | NFE Everyone |
| NFE Product | Metering, gateway and hardware: vendor spec sheets and quotes, meter data and exports | NFE Everyone |
| NFE Team | Meeting recordings, logos and icons, anything else for the whole team | NFE Everyone |
| NFE Finance | Tax, bank and company registration documents, supplier invoices and payments | NFE Leads |
The folders follow the Library's books (Business, Product, Team, Finance). If you know which book a page belongs in, you know which folder its files belong in.
Groups
| Group | Members (October 2026) | Team folders |
|---|---|---|
| NFE Everyone | Aaron, Hillary, Dansturn, Nickson, Tom, Dismas, Daphine, Esther | NFE Business, NFE Product, NFE Team |
| NFE Leads | Aaron, Hillary, Dansturn | NFE Finance |
A Nextcloud admin manages these groups in Nextcloud (Accounts). Joining or leaving a group follows the Access Management Policy. Team folders don't use the LDAP everybody group, because it also contains service and test accounts.
Working with team folders
- Where they are: at the top of your Files, next to your own folders. The desktop and mobile apps sync them like any other folder.
- Save shared work straight into the right team folder. Keep your own Files for drafts and personal things.
- Should only some people see it? Ask the Security DRI for a group or team folder rather than sharing file by file.
- People outside NFE: share the file from inside the team folder, by email or public link. Always give a public link a password and an expiry date.
- Links survive moves. Nextcloud private links (
https://nextcloud.nearlyfreeenergy.com/f/<number>) point at the file itself, not its folder. ERPNext attachments made this way keep working when a file is moved or renamed, but not if it's deleted and uploaded again. - Deleted something by mistake? Each team folder has its own trash under Deleted files, and file versions work as usual.
- Big folders: NFE Team holds several hundred MB of meeting recordings. On mobile data, turn on the desktop client's virtual files option or untick that folder in its sync settings.
What stays out
- Code lives in Gitea. Don't sync git checkouts or
node_modulesthrough Nextcloud. - App folders (
Talk,Deck,Notes,Templates,Forms,Photos) belong to their apps. Leave them in your own Files. - Passwords and keys go in the password manager, never in a file.
For admins
- Team folders are managed in Administration settings → Team folders (the Team Folders app). Each folder is given to one group with full rights. There are no quotas or advanced permissions.
- New team member: add them to NFE Everyone, and leads to NFE Leads too. See Onboarding and Offboarding Access.
- Moving files from someone's own Files into a team folder keeps their file IDs and existing shares (tested 29 October 2026). Only the owner can move them, so ask them to do it.
Set up on 29 October 2026 by Aaron Tushabe with Claude. Owner: the Security DRI. Checked in the quarterly access review.