Google Drive’s AI nonsense has finally pushed me to take control of my documents

Love it or hate it, AI features are creeping into almost every aspect of our digital lives – from documents to music playlists, there’s no escaping it. Concerns about privacy and AI hacking have already prompted colleagues to seek privacy-focused alternatives to Google Drive, and I can’t say I blame them. In fact, I have been inspired to associate myself with them.

Now, I have to say that the easiest way to avoid some AI concerns is to simply disable Google Drive’s AI features under Settings > Privacy > Manage smart features for Work and turn off the toggle. Simple enough. However, I’m always against Google Drive storage limits, and I refuse to get myself an expensive 2TB plan. Although I’ve always been worried about entrusting my documents to someone else, AI nonsense is finally the push I need to move some of my services from the cloud back under my control.

Document hosting is the main idea of ​​NAS, of course, and it has long been the most popular option for managing your documents inside and outside of your home network. Synology’s entire selling point hinges on easy access to your files, and it remains one of the easiest plug-and-play options to get you started. Similarly, NextCloud and OwnCloud are probably the biggest names when it comes to installing third-party tools on your hardware.

But these options have become overcrowded with add-ons and additional tools over the years. They’re more than just file managers, offering a variety of addons such as Microsoft integration, while Nextcloud boasts AI assistant capabilities as part of its Collaboration Hub package. Those tools may be really useful for some, but there are a few options that bring us closer to sticking to the traditional features of Google’s file manager. My only requirement is the Android and iOS app to take the effort out of saving and syncing – no hassle with automatic push or Syncthing for me, thank you.

This narrowed my search down to Seafile and Twake Drive. Both have hosting and enterprise options, but can also be self-hosted to ensure that all your data remains completely yours. I would try Twake first. However, I’ve had issues building a Docker setup, and it looks like Twake’s collaborative focus is probably overkill for my needs. I settled in Seafile.

Seafile is simple enough to run on my NAS and even on the Raspberry Pi I used for testing, and – most importantly – easy to use. After installing and logging in with my set credentials, moving a bunch of data to my laptop was as easy as dragging and dropping files and even folders into the web UI, just like Drive. You can create specific libraries, manage multiple users with private libraries and assignments, and share folders and files between users. When it comes to file management, this is right up there with the best services out there.

If you are willing to expose your service to the Internet, you can even create shared external links with password protection and time-limited access. I didn’t do this, as dialing in with TailScale is the most secure option for accessing my documents when away from home. For more advanced users, the control panel allows you to monitor storage space, manage connected devices, add new users, and more — all very useful if you want to bring the whole family to rely on the cloud.

The feature set is light, and many of these tools are also available in the mobile app. You can share files directly from your Seafile drive to messaging apps or office tools to organize them, manage cloud files, and set up automatic backups. However, the “share to user” function does not work in the app, which feels like a little oversight, but you can still view libraries and files that others have shared with you.

Speaking of backups, you can specify multiple folders to back up, including a wallpaper backup that you can use to replace Google Photos (well, sort of). Backup is one way; changes are not synchronized when you delete the file from the cloud, so it is no longer on your device. That’s fine by me (the way Drive works), but it might not be what everyone wants, especially for photos.

Now, one thing Google Drive does very well is document integration — just click on a text or spreadsheet file, and it’ll take you directly to Docs or Spreadsheets to start editing and even sharing with others. Seafile has SeaDocs, which works a little like this, but with some important caveats. First, it only works with text files; you can’t open .xls or other spreadsheets, as far as I know, and you can’t open the popular .docx format directly.

Instead, SeaDocs only supports the custom .sdoc format, which you can create within the browser application, or there’s a right-click option to convert existing document files, but that’s not ideal. Seafile also supports editing Excalidraw and Markdown files in the operating system and web browser, which is nice. Overall, though, the editing experience isn’t as refined as Google Office or other third-party options you’ll find out there. However, it does support integration with LibreOffice Online and OnlyOffice, which can be very powerful, but the setup documentation is intimidating.

Having only played with Seafile for a few days, it has successfully completed most of the requirements I had when looking to replace Google Drive. It’s fast and intuitive to use, offers a robust set of file management and sharing features, and comes with an Android app to boot. It even supports granular file permissions, external link sharing, multiple users, and is open source, which is always fun.

However, just like any other replacement service, there are things you remember. Document sharing and quick editing are arguably better in Drive due to the wider range of supported formats. In addition, setting up the latest version of Seafile was not very easy. The configuration file alone is 86 lines long, which is too much for the average user to sort through and understand, at least without reading text with a word. While Docker setup for older versions is pretty easy, installing version 13 and all the possible add-ons like SeaDocs, Notifications, and a more powerful external editing suite is such a huge task that it almost makes me want to rush to Google. Sometimes, holding yourself back can be more trouble than it’s worth, and Seafile straddles that fine line. Installing OwnCloud would be very easy.

Along those lines, arguably the biggest downside to self-hosting or a cloud alternative is the minimal setup required to move your data and make it accessible wherever you need it. Exposing services directly on the Internet is always risky, and I’m not willing to risk potentially sensitive information stored in my documents. While there are several options to help you access self-hosted documents online, I would encourage you to do your own research, so you really know what you’re getting into. Ideally, Tailscale is my favorite way to speed up a VPN on my home network while you’re away without exposing services directly to the web. Again, that’s another set up on a complicated ladder that can turn users off in the right direction.

Still, I like Seafile, and since I’ve gone through the pain of putting it away, I plan to stick with it to keep my most important documents in place, at least until I have a really good reason to try something else. If you’re looking to escape the AI ​​and privacy concerns of hosting your files on one of the major cloud providers, you can see how to get started with Seafile right here. If you’re looking for something to replace an even wider range of Google tools, you might want to give Twake Drive a try.