I've been trying to use more webdav instead of just using commercial
tools (especially Google's) mindlessly.
I'm all for autonomy and own your data but letting go of things like a
Gmail account I've used for more than 10 years is hard.
I have to admit I'm really attached to my smartphone so I need data
syncing so all the things I do in my computers is available
there.
Another challenge is my work computer. It's the machine I use the most
for the last 3 years and it's a Windows Dell computer with corporate
restrictions (there are even websites I cannot visit, no matter where
I connect).
This week I found out that I could take my contacts and calendar out
of Google's hands and synced, all thanks to webdav, carddav and
caldav. First I was playing around with Org Mode for task
management. I discovered I could use plain text to organize my day and
be functional, get reminders, etc. A good ally I got was the Nextcloud
instance of the SDF. Nextcloud is famous for its webdav support and it
also supports caldav and carddav. All these "DAV" things are protocols
meant for synchronization through HTTP and they allow i.e. syncing
your files between your PC and the instance of Nextcloud.
I'll delve into the details later in a web post with pictures but it's
a little challenging though not too difficult to sync your Android
contacts and calendar with Nextcloud and it works surprisingly
well. All you need is:
- A CalDAV/CardDAV server (like a Nextcloud or a Baikal instance)
- An account in such server
- An app that supports CalDAV/CardDAV
- An alternative app for contacts or calendar/events that is not the
Google one
I've been thinking about telling you my journey and help with the
process perhaps bringing up a server to sync files for those who don't
have access to a Nextcloud instance or an available DAV server
(Nextcloud in the SDF is a MetaArpa thing. It's cool though).
