• sciebo is a free non-profit cloud service for research and teaching.
• Data are stored and processed exclusively at three locations in North Rhine-Westphalia including Münster, Bonn and Duisburg-Essen). This means that data are subject to the strict level of protection provided by German data protection laws.
• With sciebo, users can synchronize files between end devices automatically.
• Access to files can also be granted by sharing links.
• sciebo can be used via a client or through the web interface.
• The service is jointly operated by 22 universities in NRW and funded by the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Functions

• Synchronization: Files can be synchronized automatically across end devices (such as laptops, smart phones and tablets) using the client. Users can also access the files via a web browser from anywhere. 
  Example: synchronizing selected files between an office PC and a laptop at home.
• Sharing files: With sciebo, files and folders can be shared with other employees at the University of Cologne and external users. If authorized, external users can even upload files to a shared folder. A password and expiry date can be set for each share.
  Example: sharing files between an institute and external organization in a project. See http://www.sciebo.de/anleitung/teilen.html for information on sharing.

Authorization for a sciebo account

To register for a sciebo account, you need:

• a personal account or
• a student account

Differences between sciebo accounts of employees and students

Employees with a personal account and students with a student account can use different functions.

Students:

• 30 GB

Employees:

• 30 GB, expandable to 500 GB
• Create sciebo guest identifiers
• Application for sciebo project boxes

Registration and sciebo account name

Registration

For information about creating a sciebo account, see Registration. After registration, the sciebo account is valid for 12 months. Then you have 6 months to renew your account under "my.sciebo".
To register with "my.sciebo", please use your personal or student account - not your sciebo account name.

Sciebo account name

The sciebo account name is used for the use of the browser variant under https://uni-koeln.sciebo.de/ as well as for the use in the clients.

It is composed as follows:
Personal-Account + @uni-koeln.de (Example: mmuster1@uni-koeln.de)
Student account + @uni-koeln.de (Example: mmuster2@uni-koeln.de)

Please note: The addition "@uni-koeln.de" does not originate from your e-mail address, but has technical reasons and refers to the sciebo instance of the University of Cologne. A registration with e.g. "mmuster2@smail.uni-koeln.de" therefore fails just as much as e.g. manfred.mustermann@uni-koeln.de.

Guest accounts have now been introduced in sciebo. These grant external users limited access to sciebo. We have put together some detailed information about guest accounts.

Project box

In addition to personal sciebo accounts, project boxes are also available for project file storage (only for employees).

Information for sciebo users

1. sciebo should only be use for sharing files and synchronizing non-confidential documents, as files are not encrypted on the sciebo servers.
2. The storage of personal data is only permitted in the sciebo Terms of Use if the individuals concerned have given their explicit consent.
3. sciebo should not be used as permanent data storage or for backing up files. The online storage service SoFS and TSM provided by the RRZK for backups and archiving are more suitable for these requirements. 
4. Files are not backed up on sciebo. Older versions of files, which have been replaced by uploading newer versions are kept as long as space is available. After this point, older file versions are automatically deleted.
5. Further information about data protection, security classification and data suitability/unsuitability for storage in sciebo can be found on the websites of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in a protection needs analysis

my.sciebo

Under "my.sciebo", account information can be retrieved, the account extended, the password reset and guests invited and managed (see "Guest IDs").

Clients

sciebo clients for Windows, Mac OS, Linux Android and iOS can be downloaded in the download-area. Information on using the client is available on the sciebo website: https://www.sciebo.de/anleitung/desktop.html 

Further information

For basic information on sciebo and user documentation, refer to the Help Center.