Seafile, a popular open-source file sync server among self-hosting enthusiasts, rolled out version 13.0. While file synchronization remains its core function, the new release layers on advanced organization, search, and AI-assisted workflows, bringing the platform closer to Nextcloud and moving beyond a solution focused solely on file synchronization.
The release’s highlight is the introduction of a dedicated metadata server. This allows administrators and teams to define structured properties for files, such as status, owner, project phase, or custom fields tailored to internal workflows.
Once enabled, these properties can be searched, filtered, grouped, and sorted, effectively turning file libraries into queryable datasets rather than flat directories. Tagging is tightly integrated with metadata and is now hierarchical, enabling multi-level tag structures that better reflect real-world project organization.
The UI has also become more flexible. In addition to traditional table and gallery layouts, Seafile 13.0 adds card and statistics views, alongside existing Kanban and map options. In addition, a new thumbnail server improves performance when browsing media-heavy collections and enables video previews and playback directly from the file properties panel.
Regarding the platform’s search capabilities, a new full-text indexing allows users to search inside documents, not just filenames or metadata, improving discoverability across large repositories and documentation sets. Some search features are available only with the chosen edition and deployment configuration.
Seafile 13.0 also introduces Seafile AI, which focuses on practical automation rather than general-purpose chat features. When metadata is enabled, AI tools can extract file details, perform OCR on images, generate summaries and suggested tags, and detect faces in photo collections.
Collaboration is improved through real-time UI updates delivered by a new notification server. File uploads, edits, deletions, and state changes now appear instantly without manual refresh, keeping shared workspaces in sync across teams.
Document collaboration receives a substantial upgrade with SeaDoc 2.0. The built-in editor is now fully block-based, allowing paragraphs, tables, images, code blocks, and layouts to be reorganized easily. Contextual AI assistance is embedded directly into the editor, offering rewriting, summarization, translation, and continuation tools without breaking the editing flow.
On top of that, SeaDoc 2.0 also adds revision drafts, enabling users to propose changes in isolated copies and merge them back into the source document with conflict handling.
Finally, the release also expands Seafile’s Wikis feature, using the same SeaDoc editor, which supports hierarchical page structures and can be shared internally or published publicly.
For more information, see the announcement. To view all the new Seafile 13.0 features in action, watch this video.
