Team Folders: Incorrect File Creator/Owner Display and Traceability Issues (Activity Tab, User Filtering, Unified Search)

[Jerome-Herbinet]

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a team folder with at least 2 users (including yourself) who have access to it.
2. Upload/create a file in the team folder with your user; check on the right side panel that you are listed as the owner (and that it says you created the file in the activity tab).
3. Log in with the other user, using “Impersonate” if necessary.
4. Note that the owner of the file is not you, but the second user you just logged in with. Also note that the file creation information is not displayed in the activity tab.

File created by Jerome, seen as Jerome	File created by Jerome, seen as Fabien

Folder created by Jerome, seen as Jerome	Folder created by Jerome, seen as Fabien

Expected behaviour

In this example, the owner must be YOU regardless of which user logs in. This incorrect information breaks the file's chain of traceability. I know that technically, everything in a team folder does not belong to any user, BUT that does not prevent the file from having to be traceable. If Nextcloud wants to position itself as a DMS (Document Management System), this information is important. Then, if the term “Owner” (tooltip) poses a problem in the context of team folders (which I understand); therefore not in the context of traditional sharing, perhaps the word “Creator” should be used. Finally, in the activity tab, when logged in as the other user (Fabien), it should be indicated that “Jérôme” created the file.

Note : In the context of team folders where files or folders do not belong to users, the term “owner” (tooltip) may be inappropriate and should be replaced by “creator.”

Actual behaviour

The owner listed is simply the display name of the logged-in user, which means that this information is incorrect for anyone other than the owner/creator of the file. In addition, no file creation event is displayed in the Activity tab when you are logged in as a user other than the file creator.

Other related problem (filtering by user in Files AND searching with united search)

When filtering by user in “Files”—still using the example given:

• logged in with my user, if I filter with my name, I see my file (everything is fine here)
• logged in with the other user (Fabien's), I will not see Jérôme (me) in the filter options, only Fabien. The file is therefore not perceived as belonging to (or having been created by) Jérôme. The file created by Jérôme appears when filtering with “Fabien.” That makes no sense.
  Also, with unified search, we encounter another problem: whether I am logged in as Jérôme or Fabien (the other user), if I type the name of the file I am looking for:
• without specifying a user: I find it (everything is fine here)
• specifying myself (Jerome) or the other user (Fabien) AND logging in as Jerome (myself) or Fabien (other user), the file no longer appears in the search. That makes no sense.

"Files" filter (search for the file created by Jérôme when he was logged in as Jérôme)	"Files" filter (search for the file created by Jérôme when he was logged in as Fabien)

Unified search (search for the file created by Jérôme when he was logged in as Jérôme)	Unified search (search for the file created by Fabien when he was logged in as Jérôme)

Unified search (search for the file created by Fabien when he was logged in as Fabien)	Unified search (search for the file created by Jérôme when he was logged in as Fabien)

Server configuration

Operating system: Linux N/A

Web server: Nginx

Database: MariaDB

PHP version: 8.3

Nextcloud version: (see Nextcloud admin page) 33.0.0

Team folders version: 21.0.6

Updated from an older Nextcloud/ownCloud or fresh install: fresh install

Where did you install Nextcloud from: manually

Are you using external storage, if yes which one: local/s3/smb/sftp/... no

Are you using encryption: yes/no no

Are you using an external user-backend, if yes which one: LDAP/ActiveDirectory/Webdav/Saml/... LDAP

Client configuration

Browser: Firefox 148.0

Operating system: Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.3

Logs

Can be provided if necessary

Web server error log

Can be provided if necessary

Nextcloud log (data/nextcloud.log)

Can be provided if necessary

Browser log

Can be provided if necessary

[miaulalala]

For the activity issue, you can use the activity_use_cached_mountpoints config flag to generate activities for each mount user

[Jerome-Herbinet]

For the activity issue, you can use the activity_use_cached_mountpoints config flag to generate activities for each mount user

Thanks for this tip (a setting I had forgotten about, I must admit), but after activating it, on the “Fabien” user side, for image 1024-769.jpg, I still can't see the file creation activity by “Jérôme.” Isn't this feature supposed to show activities retroactively?

[miaulalala]

No, it doesn't support retroactive activity creation iirc

[Jerome-Herbinet]

No, it doesn't support retroactive activity creation iirc

OK thanks ; I strikethrough the parts of the text in the initial description that refer to the missing creation information by Jérôme from Fabien's account.

[Jerome-Herbinet]

Then @miaulalala can you (or any of your colleagues) have a look at the other mentioned issues ? 🙂