Highlight Rules¶

Highlight rules color cells in the file list by their value: a deadline that has passed in red, a missing owner in orange, an approved document in green. The rules are part of a view, so everyone who uses that view sees the same highlights.

Highlights only change how the list looks. They do not change files or metadata, and they do not hide anything. To show only some files, use a filter.

What you see¶

A highlighted cell gets a soft background in the rule's color, a bar on its leading edge, and an icon. Each color has its own icon, so a highlight never depends on color alone:

Color	Icon	Typical use
Red	Badge with an exclamation mark	Something is wrong or late
Orange	Warning triangle	Needs attention
Green	Check mark	Done, in order
Blue	"i"	For information

The exact shade follows your Nextcloud theme, dark mode included.
A column that has rules shows a palette icon next to its name in the column header.
Point at the icon to see the highlight's text, for example what needs to happen: Approve first. A screen reader reads that text with the cell, for example "Deadline: 3 October 2026, Overdue."
Highlights appear in the list layout of the Files app. The tile (grid) layout shows none.
Rules about today, such as Before today, follow the calendar: at midnight the cells are checked again, also when the page stays open.

To see which rules a view uses, open the view menu above the file list and choose View details. The Highlight cells section lists the rules of each column, in order. If you manage views, the menu item is Edit … instead.

Which rule wins¶

Rules belong to one column and only look at the value in that column. A cell gets at most one highlight.

The rules of a column are checked from top to bottom. The first rule that matches decides the color and the name; the rules below it are not checked for that cell. The editor says so above the list: When a cell matches more than one rule, the top one counts.

Example. A Deadline column has three rules:

#	Condition	Color	Name
1	Before today	Red	Overdue
2	Today	Orange	Due today
3	Within the next 7 days	Orange	Due soon

A deadline of today matches rules 2 and 3, because within the next 7 days includes today. Rule 2 is higher, so the cell shows Due today. Swap rules 2 and 3, and every deadline of today shows Due soon instead. Put the most specific or most urgent rule at the top.

A few situations make a rule not count, or stop the check:

MetaVox cannot tell. If a rule cannot be checked, MetaVox stops at that rule and leaves the cell without a highlight, rather than letting a rule further down color it. This happens with a value longer than 512 characters, which reaches the list cut off: only Is empty and Is not empty are decided for it; every other rule, the Checkbox rules included, cannot be. It also happens with a stored value that is not a date in a Date field, or not a number in a Number field.
Folders have their own metadata and are highlighted like files, also when their value is empty: Missing marks a folder without a value.
Never highlighted: a row whose values are still loading, and a folder from another storage shown inside the team folder, such as a nested team folder, which has no MetaVox values there.
The rule no longer fits the field. If a field changes type, its rules can stop making sense. Such a rule highlights nothing and is skipped. The editor marks it: This rule doesn't work with this field and highlights nothing.

Setting up highlights¶

You can add and change highlight rules if you may manage the views of the team folder. Those are the members who have write access to the team folder. Everyone else sees the rules under View details, read-only.

Open the team folder in the Files app.
Open the view menu above the file list and choose Edit …, or New view for a new one.
Go to the Highlight cells section. It lists every column that is Visible under Columns. Click a column to open it.
Click Add rule for column and choose a ready-made rule or Custom rule.
Choose a Condition, fill in a value if the condition asks for one, and pick a Color. Optionally add a Text by the icon.
Preview shows how the highlight will look and what it says. Click Done.
Click Save to save the view.

To change a rule, click it. To change the order or remove a rule, use the ⋯ menu next to it: Move up, Move down and Delete.

A column can have up to 10 rules.
While a rule is open and not complete, Save is not available. Click Done to finish the rule, or Cancel to drop the change.
Only visible columns can get rules. A column you hide keeps its rules, and they come back when you make it visible again. The editor lists those columns under Hidden columns keep their rules.

Ready-made rules¶

Rule	Field types	Condition	Color
Overdue	Date	Before today	Red
Due today	Date	Today	Orange
Due soon	Date	Within the next 7 days	Orange
Missing	All except Checkbox	Is empty	Orange
Checked	Checkbox	Is checked	Green
Not checked	Checkbox	Is not checked	Orange
Assigned to the person viewing	People and groups	Is the person viewing, or one of their groups or teams	Blue

Each ready-made rule can be added once per column. Afterwards you can change its condition, color and name like any other rule.
Ready-made rules are placed in a sensible order for you: Overdue, Due today, Due soon, Missing. A custom rule goes to the bottom of the list; move it up if it should count first.
Assigned to the person viewing is personal: each person sees the files assigned to them highlighted, with the name Assigned to you.

Conditions per field type¶

Field type	Conditions
Text, Textarea, URL	Is, Is not, Contains, Does not contain, Is empty, Is not empty
Number	Is, Is not, Greater than, Less than, At least, At most, Is empty, Is not empty
Date	Before today, Today, After today, Within the next … days, More than … days ago, Before a date, On a date, After a date, Is empty, Is not empty
Select (Dropdown)	Is, Is not, Is one of, Is empty, Is not empty
Multi-select	Contains one of, Contains all of, Is empty, Is not empty
Checkbox	Is checked, Is not checked
People and groups	Is the person viewing, Is empty, Is not empty
File Link	Is empty, Is not empty

How conditions compare¶

Text is compared without regard to upper and lower case. Spaces before and after the value are ignored.
Empty cells. Is not, Does not contain and Is not checked also match an empty cell. The other conditions, such as Is, Contains, Greater than and all date conditions, never do. To treat empty cells differently, put an Is empty rule above them.
Dates are compared by day; a time of day is ignored. Within the next 7 days runs from today up to and including the seventh day from now. More than 30 days ago matches dates before the day 30 days ago. A number of days is a whole number from 1 to 3650.
Today is the date on the computer of the person looking. Around midnight, two people in different time zones can see different highlights.
Numbers are typed without thousands separators, for example 10000. A decimal comma is accepted where your language writes one.
Options. A rule on a Select or Multi-select field uses the text of the option. If an option is later removed from the field, the rule keeps it, and the editor notes: This rule uses an option the field no longer has.

The text by the icon¶

Text by the icon is optional and can be up to 40 characters. It shows when someone points at the icon in a highlighted cell, so it is a good place for what needs to happen: Approve first, Renew insurance. Without it, a ready-made rule shows its own name (Overdue) and a custom rule shows what it checks (before today). A ready-made rule keeps its name only while its condition and value are unchanged.

The text is also listed under View details and read out by screen readers with the cell, so say what the state means or what to do, not the color.

Good to know¶

Highlight rules are saved with the view. They are not part of the MetaVox backup.
Someone who already has the folder open sees changed rules after reloading the page.
Integrations can read and write the rules through the API: see Highlight rules in the API reference.