What purpose does the Public folder serve

The folder is used for sharing files publicly, so your files won't be exposed.

This folder isn’t shared by default, but you can easily set up several different types of file-sharing to easily share files on your local network.

This folder was originally meant for the Personal File Sharing tool, which is no longer included with Ubuntu by default. You can install the Personal File Sharing tool or use Ubuntu’s built-in file-sharing feature to share files.

The Personal File Sharing tool – also known as gnome-user-share – was the original reason for the Public folder. It uses Apache to offer convenient WebDAV-based file sharing, but doesn’t work with Windows systems. It supports Bluetooth file sharing, too.¹

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