How to Sync Your Reading Library to Nextcloud, S3 or a Local Folder, Encrypted

The short version. In AI Summary Helper open Settings → Sync & backup → Add a place, choose Nextcloud/WebDAV, S3-compatible storage or a folder on your computer, and keep the suggested passphrase. Everything is encrypted in your browser before it is uploaded. On your second computer you add the same place and enter the passphrase or the recovery key. That is the whole setup. The rest of this page covers each storage type, what syncs, and what to do when something goes wrong.

Why do this at all? Because a reading library is worth keeping, and a tool you depend on can disappear (more on that here). Syncing to storage you own means the library outlives any one app or account.

What gets synced, and what does not

• Synced: saved articles with their full text and summaries, tags, highlights, your notes and comments, and collections.
• Not synced: your API keys, sign-in details, the sync login itself, and per-device settings. Backups and sync leave those out on purpose.
• One article per page: if you saved the same page on two computers, you end up with one article (tags and missing fields are combined).
• Edits merge field by field: a title changed on one computer and a tag added on another both survive. If both change the same field, the later change wins, the same on every device.

Step 1: pick where it lives

Nextcloud or another WebDAV server

Best if you already run Nextcloud, or use a hosted one (many European providers offer it). You need three things:

1. The address of your files. For Nextcloud it looks like https://your-server/remote.php/dav/files/your-username/. In Nextcloud open Files → Settings and copy the WebDAV address shown there.
2. Your username.
3. An app password, not your main password. In Nextcloud: Settings → Security → Devices & sessions → create a new app password. If you ever want to cut access, you delete that one entry.

Choose a folder name such as aish-sync. It is created for you. Other WebDAV servers (many NAS boxes, ownCloud) work the same way; the address format differs.

An S3-compatible bucket

Best if you prefer object storage: AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, MinIO and similar. Create a bucket, then create an access key just for this bucket with permission to read, write, list and delete in it. Never use your account's main key. In the extension you enter the endpoint address (for example https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com, or the address your provider shows), the bucket name, the region (leave the default if your provider does not ask), the access key ID and the secret key.

A folder on your computer

Best if something else already carries a folder between your devices: Syncthing, your desktop sync client, iCloud Drive, a USB drive. Choose A folder on this computer and pick a new, empty folder of your own, for example Documents/AISH-sync. Chrome does not accept Desktop, Documents or Downloads themselves as a folder for this, so pick a subfolder. This works in Chrome and Edge on a computer. Two things to know: the browser may ask you to allow access again after a restart (the settings screen shows a button for it), and the folder keeps syncing only while the browser is running.

Step 2: choose encrypted, and keep the words

When you add the place, Encrypted is selected by default and Sync my devices is the purpose. The extension suggests six random words as your passphrase. You can press Another suggestion until you like the combination, or choose your own (at least 12 characters, with a hint if it is weak).

After you connect, you see the words and a recovery key once. Save both in a password manager. The extension does not store your passphrase. With the passphrase or the recovery key you can open the place on any device; without both, nobody can read the files, including us.

What the storage provider sees: scrambled files with scrambled names, how many there are, how big they are, and when they change. It does not see titles, links or text. Your library is encrypted in your browser with AES-256-GCM before it leaves the device.

Step 3: add your second computer

1. Install the extension and open Settings → Sync & backup → Add a place.
2. Enter the same server details (or pick the same folder).
3. The extension sees that the folder already holds an encrypted library and asks for the passphrase or the recovery key. Typing the words in any capitalization, with spaces or dashes, works.
4. It asks you to confirm that you made a backup of this device first, because joining merges this computer's library with the one in the folder, and where both differ the folder wins. Use Make a backup now.
5. Press Connect. The first sync can take a while for a large library; the screen shows progress.

Backup only, restore, and publishing

• Backup only. Choose Backup only instead of Sync my devices and the computer only writes to the place and never reads from it. Restore from the place's settings when you need it: it brings everything back, and where this computer differs the place wins. Nothing is deleted.
• Publish to your website. A separate kind of place, Readable, writes plain files for your own site, only for the articles you tag, with an optional viewer page. Notes and full texts stay out unless you switch them on, because anyone who can open that folder can read it. Do not use a readable place for private data.

When something goes wrong

"Allow access to the folder again"

The browser takes folder access back after a restart. Press the button at the top of Sync & backup. If it keeps failing, the folder may be one Chrome protects (Desktop, Documents, Downloads or your home folder): choose a subfolder you made.

"The server did not accept the username and password"

For Nextcloud use an app password. Check that the address ends with your username folder and that two-factor login is not blocking the app password.

"Wrong passphrase"

Try the recovery key instead. If you have neither, the files cannot be opened by anyone. Remove the place here, make a new one and start again from the library on your computer.

A flood of deletions is waiting for me

If another device deletes many articles at once, the extension applies a few and asks before the rest, so one mistake cannot empty your library. Check, then press the button to apply them.

A computer was away for months

After roughly three months, a computer sends only what changed since and deletes nothing on its own, so old articles that were deleted elsewhere do not come back by accident.

Questions

Do I need an account with you?

No. Sync talks straight from your browser to the storage you entered. We run no sync server.

Does it work on my phone?

The Android app already uses the same sync format internally and is tested against the extension; its screens are not finished yet, so it is not offered as a feature today.

Can I use more than one place?

Yes. A common setup is one encrypted place for syncing between computers and one backup-only place on a different provider.

Is it safe to put my library in the cloud?

Safer than most setups, because the provider holds only encrypted files. It is still only as strong as your passphrase and your device. Read the honest limits, including that the encryption has not been independently audited.