Nextcloud has two separate components which may need to be installed. They are the server and the client. We will describe each separately:

Nextcloud Server

The Nextcloud server is all that you actually need to run Nextcloud. The term “server” here means the web software that powers your Nextcloud website, the place where you can login via a web browser:

and view/add/edit/share etc. your files and other data on your cloud:

For details how to install the Nextcloud server, see our How to Install Nextcloud Server post.

Nextcloud Client

The Nextcloud client is a program that runs on your computer or phone and, once configured, mostly just runs by itself “in the background” and synchronizes the files on your PC to those on the cloud. That means that if you edit/add/remove a file from your “cloud” folder on your PC then the same thing happens to that file on your online cloud. Also of course if someone edits/adds/removes a file from the online cloud, your PC will be updated with that same change.

You are not required to use this program to use a cloud. What it does, however, is synchronize all changes back and forth and so many users like it. Here is how it looks on a PC:

For details how to install the Nextcloud client, see our How to Install Nextcloud Client post.