Guests #

With Guests, users share files and folders with people outside the organization without anyone creating an account first. If a user enters an email address in the share dialog that has no account yet, the app creates a guest account. The guest receives an invitation with an activation link, then logs in with their email address and works with the content shared with them, also through the desktop and mobile clients.

Requirements #

Installation #

Open Market from the app menu, go to the "Guests" app, and install it. On the command line:

sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ market:install guests

The command downloads the package and enables the app. If the app is already present but disabled, run sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ app:enable guests.

Configuration #

The settings are under Settings → Admin → Sharing in the "Guests" section.

The virtual group is not stored in the database. Filter by it in the user management to see all guests.

App whitelist #

With the restriction on, the server answers requests to other apps with "Access to this resource is forbidden for guests." and hides them in the app menu. Some apps are always allowed, among them files, dav, files_external, and encryption. Access over WebDAV, and so through the clients, is therefore governed only by the permission check on the file.

The default list is short. Among others, it contains settings, files_trashbin, files_versions, files_sharing, files_texteditor, activity, notifications, files_pdfviewer, files_mediaviewer, richdocuments, onlyoffice, and twofactor_totp. Not included are, for example, Calendar (calendar), BWTalk (bwtalk), Schwarzes Brett (schwarzes_brett), and Office (Collabora Online) (oco_office). If guests should use one of these apps, add its app ID. comments is missing as well, so guests do not see comments on files.

Before adding an app, check whether guests really need it.

Command line #

The app has no occ commands of its own. Set the values with the standard commands:

sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ config:app:set guests blockdomains --value="example.org,example.net"
sudo -u www-data php8.4 occ config:app:set guests usewhitelist --value=true

Maintain the app list in the web interface. With occ, you replace the list completely instead of adding to it.

Storage and language #

Guests are regular accounts and receive the default quota. If guests should not store anything of their own, set their quota to 0 B, see Users and groups.

The app writes the invitation in the language set in default_language in config/config.php. If that value is not set, it uses the language of the person who shares.

Usage #

1. In the share dialog of a file or folder, type the guest's email address.
2. Pick the entry "Add Guest User: …" with the address you typed.
3. The guest receives an email with a link to set a password. After that, they log in with their email address and this password.

The guest's username is the email address in lowercase. If the address already belongs to an account, for example an earlier guest, the dialog offers that account instead of the guest entry. A guest who has already activated the account receives no further invitations for new shares. They find the new shares in their file list after logging in.

Limits and notes #

• Without working email, there are no guests. If the invitation cannot be sent, the app withdraws the share and reports the error.
• Guests cannot invite other guests.
• Like other accounts, guests can be added to Custom Groups.

Troubleshooting #