Nextcloud transfer files between accounts / rename accounts

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Sorry there is no way to rename nextcloud username/account at the time of the writing (20.0.6).

I once needed to fix a typo I made in Nextcloud username and ran into this sad fact.

However after some digging I found that one could create a new account and then transfer files / data from old account to the new one -> which worked for me.

Keep in mind this approach does not transfer apps and settings, just files.

Create a new user

Create a new user with newusername that you want to change your oldusername to.

You can do this in nextcloud web gui.

Transfer files

I tend to use containers for everything, so to execute following command I do need to jump into docker container: 

docker exec -it nextcloud bash

Transfer files using occ command:

root@d1919d573698:/data# occ files:transfer-ownership oldusername newusername

Validating quota
Analysing files of oldusername ... 16404 [============================]
Collecting all share information for files and folders of oldusername ... 
0 [------------->--------------]
Transferring files to newusername/
files/transferred from oldusername on 2021-01-01 19-37-47 ...
Restoring shares ... 
0 [>---------------------------]

Voila.

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