User Guide

Prerequisites

The Attendance app requires that every person who should respond to appointments has a Nextcloud account. This is necessary so the app can:

• Track who has responded and who has not
• Send automated reminders to people who have not yet responded
• Provide a personal calendar subscription feed for each user
• Control visibility and permissions based on group membership

Installation

Install the Attendance app from the Nextcloud App Store:

1. Log in to your Nextcloud as an administrator
2. Go to Apps (top-right user menu or via the app switcher)
3. Search for Attendance
4. Click Download and enable

Alternatively, if you have shell access:

Setup Guide

Step 1: Create Nextcloud groups

Before using the Attendance app, set up your Nextcloud groups to reflect your organization's structure. Go to Users in the Nextcloud admin area and create groups.

Step 2: Create user accounts and assign groups

Create a Nextcloud account for each member and assign them to the appropriate groups. A user can belong to multiple groups (e.g., "Choir" and "Soprano").

Step 3: Configure admin settings

Open the Attendance admin settings at Administration settings > Attendance and configure:

1. Response summary groups – Select which groups should appear as sections in the response summary (e.g., Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass).
2. Permissions – Define which groups may create appointments, perform check-ins, view response summaries, and view comments.
3. Reminders – Enable automatic reminders and configure timing and frequency.
4. Calendar sync – Optionally enable automatic synchronization from Nextcloud Calendar events (Nextcloud 32+ only).

See the Admin settings reference section below for details on each setting.

Step 4: Create your first appointment

Navigate to the Attendance app via the top navigation bar and create your first appointment. See Creating appointments for details.

Step 5: Let members respond

Members will see the appointment in the Attendance app (and on the Nextcloud dashboard widget). They can respond with Yes, No, or Maybe, and optionally add a comment.

Everyday Usage

Creating Appointments

Users with the "Manage appointments" permission can create new appointments and edit existing ones.

1. Open the Attendance app
2. Click Create appointment in the navigation menu
3. Fill in the form:
   • Name – A descriptive title (e.g., "Rehearsal", "Concert", "Team meeting")
   • Description – Optional details with Markdown formatting support
   • Start / End date and time – End time defaults to 2.5 hours after start
   • Restrict access – Optionally limit who can see and respond
   • Send notification – Immediately notify all targeted users (only on create)
4. Click Create

Importing from Calendar

If you already maintain events in the Nextcloud Calendar app, you can import them as Attendance appointments instead of creating them manually.

1. When creating a new appointment, click Import from calendar
2. Select a calendar from the list
3. Browse and select the event you want to import
4. The form is pre-filled – adjust details if needed and save

Responding to Appointments

Every user who can see an appointment can submit a response:

1. Open the Attendance app or use the dashboard widget
2. Click on an appointment
3. Choose your response: Yes No Maybe
4. Optionally add a comment (e.g., "Will be 15 minutes late")

You can change your response at any time until the appointment date.

Unanswered Appointments

The Attendance app has a dedicated Unanswered section in the navigation that shows only appointments you have not yet responded to. When you open the app and have unanswered appointments, you are automatically taken to this view.

A banner at the top shows how many appointments are awaiting your response. When you answer all appointments, a confetti celebration appears.

Appointment Visibility

By default, every Nextcloud user can see all appointments. You can restrict visibility when creating or editing an appointment:

• Specific users – Only selected users can see and respond
• Groups – Only members of selected groups can see and respond
• Teams – Only members of selected Nextcloud Teams (Circles)

Users not in the visibility list will not see the appointment, will not receive reminders, and will not appear in the response summary or check-in list.

File Attachments

You can attach files from Nextcloud Files to any appointment. This is useful for sharing sheet music, agendas, or meeting notes.

1. Open the appointment detail view or the edit form
2. Click the attachment button
3. Select a file from your Nextcloud Files using the file picker

All users who can see the appointment can view and download the attachments. Attachments are also included as links in the iCal calendar subscription feed. When copying an appointment, its attachments are carried over.

Notifications and Reminders

The Attendance app uses the Nextcloud notification system (requires the Notifications app to be enabled).

Calendar Subscription

Each user can subscribe to their Attendance appointments in an external calendar app (Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.).

1. Open the Attendance app
2. Click the Calendar subscription button (calendar icon in the navigation)
3. Copy the personal feed URL, or use the quick-subscribe buttons for Google Calendar or Apple Calendar

Check-in

The check-in feature tracks actual attendance at an event, as opposed to the planned response (RSVP). This is useful when you need to verify who really showed up.

Starting a check-in

1. Open the appointment detail view
2. Click Start check-in (requires the "Check-in" permission)

The check-in interface shows

• Attendance counts: attended, absent, and pending
• A list of all targeted users with their check-in status
• Filters for "All users" and "Only pending"
• Search field to find specific users

Checking users in

• Click Yes to mark a user as present
• Click No to mark a user as absent
• Optionally add a check-in comment for individual users
• Use bulk actions to mark multiple users at once

Response Summary

Users with the "See response overview" permission can view a detailed breakdown of all responses on each appointment.

• Group sections – Responses organized by the groups configured in admin settings
• Team sections – If Nextcloud Teams are configured, they appear as additional sections
• Per-group counts of Yes, No, Maybe, and no-response
• Individual responses with expandable details and comments
• Non-responding users list and check-in status alongside RSVPs

Export

Users with the "Manage appointments" permission can export all appointment data to an ODS spreadsheet file.

1. Open the Attendance app
2. Click the Export button
3. The file is saved to the Attendance folder in your Nextcloud Files

Admin Settings Reference

Access admin settings at Administration settings > Attendance.

Response Summary Groups and Teams

Response summary groups: Select which Nextcloud groups should appear as separate sections in the response summary view. If no groups are selected, all users appear in one flat list.

This also affects the check-in view: only users belonging to whitelisted groups (plus users explicitly added to the appointment's visibility list) appear in the check-in interface.

Response summary teams: If you use the Nextcloud Teams (Circles) app, you can also select teams to appear as sections in the response summary.

Permissions

All four permissions are controlled by assigning Nextcloud groups. If no groups are selected for a permission, all users have that permission by default.

Reminders

The Notifications app must be enabled for reminders to work. Only users who have not yet responded receive reminders.

Calendar Sync

This feature requires Nextcloud 32 or later.

Tips & Best Practices