Seafile Setup: Connect & Transfer Files

Seafile is file sync and share software that you can run on your own server or use as a hosted service^[1]. Blober connects with your server address and your account. WebDAV is not involved, so nobody has to enable anything on the server.

• ✅ Browse libraries, folders and files
• ✅ Upload files
• ✅ Download files
• ✅ Delete files and folders
• ✅ Copy files within Seafile, including between libraries (Seafile does the copy, so nothing is downloaded)
• ✅ Move files within Seafile, including between libraries (Seafile does the move, so nothing is downloaded)

A Seafile account on a server that this computer can reach. Seafile's hosted service at plus.seafile.com works, and so does any server that you or your organization run.

Blober opens Seafile's own sign-in page, and you sign in there. Your password never goes to Blober, and nothing has to be created or enabled on the server first.

1. Enter the address you open Seafile at, for example https://plus.seafile.com. If your Seafile runs under a folder path, add the path, for example https://example.com/seafile.
2. Click Open Seafile Login and sign in on Seafile's own page.
3. The sign-in window closes, and Blober shows the account.

Seafile stores files in libraries. The top level of the Seafile file list in Blober is your library list: your own libraries, libraries shared with you, and group libraries. Pick a library, or a folder inside it, as the source or the destination of a workflow.

A destination must be a library or a folder inside one.

If two libraries have the same name, Blober adds the first characters of the library ID to each name, so you can tell them apart.

Blober does not create libraries. Create one in the Seafile web app first if a workflow needs a new one.

Folders keep their structure, and Blober creates missing folders when it uploads. When a name already exists, the deduplication setting decides what happens.

• Default: Skip if a file with the same name exists
• Used for: Destination

For the policies (skip, overwrite), where the control appears, and how deduplication differs from resuming a task, see Deduplication.

Copy and move inside the same Seafile account happen on the server, so they are quick and use none of your bandwidth. That includes copying or moving a file from one library to another.

• Check the server URL. Use the address you open Seafile at, with its folder path if it has one, for example https://seafile.example.com.
• Open the same address in your browser and check that your account works there.
• If the server uses a self-signed certificate, Blober cannot connect to it. Ask the administrator for a certificate from a public certificate authority.

Your account has read-only access to that library. Browsing and downloading work. Uploading, deleting, copying and moving do not.

Blober lists encrypted libraries as read-only and cannot open them. Use a normal library, or move the files to one in Seafile first.

The account or the library has no space left. Free space in Seafile, then run the task again.

• Refresh the file list in Blober.
• Check that the files exist in the Seafile web app.

Your Seafile sign-in expired. Sign in to the same account in that window, and the task goes on. The window closes after you sign in. To stop instead, pause or cancel the task. The window closes then too.

• When your Seafile sign-in expires, Blober asks you to sign in again.
• Blober cannot open encrypted libraries.
• Blober cannot create libraries.
• Seafile sets the modified date of an uploaded file to the day of the upload. Blober cannot keep the original date.
• A folder with thousands of files makes each upload slower while Skip if a file with the same name exists is on. Use a path template that spreads the files over several folders, for example {file_created_year}/{file_created_month}/{filename}.
• Deleted files go to the library trash in Seafile, where you can restore them^[2].

• Seafile WebDAV vs the REST API: What to Use for Transfers