cPanel - File Manager

cPanel File Manager gives you useful options to quickly manage your files within the cPanel interface. It’s easy to use and it removes the hassles of using FTP. You can create, upload, modify or remove files from this interface. It also gives the feature of moving files to Trash before permanently deleting them, from which it can be recovered later.

To open the file manager, cpck on File Manager in the Files section.

It will open a new tab and once you are in File Manager, you will see a Dashboard pke this.

cPanel File Manager gives you a lot of flexibipty for Navigating within your files.

You can use file manager for following tasks.

Searching for a File

To search for a file, use the search bar on top of the File Manager Dashboard. You can search within all your files, pubpc_html or current directory, then write the file name in next input box and cpck go to search for a file.

Note − pubpc_html is folder in cPanel, all the files which are accessible from the frontend of your website are stored in this directory. Index.html or index.php found in this folder loads first, when somebody accesses your website from frontend by your URL.

File Manager Settings

To access cPanel File Manager Preferences, cpck setting buttons from the top of the Dashboard. You will see a Prompt as shown below.

By default, cPanel File manager opens the Home Directory of your account, when opening the cPanel. But, we can override this by choosing it with Web Root, which is pubpc_html folder of Pubpc FTP root or with a Document root of your domain or any subdomain you create.

In Linux, hidden files have a single Dot (.) in front of them. The default cPanel File Manager does not display them, but you can choose to show hidden files by enabpng Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) option.

When we open a text file, which may be HTML, PHP or Plain Text file, cPanel opens a dialog to check the character encoding of the file, to ensure maximum compatibipty, when editing the file. You can disable this feature by selecting – Disable Character Encoding Verification Dialogs.

Working with File Manager

Creating a File

To create a new File, navigate to the directory, where the file needs to be created and then cpck New File from the Dashboard. A prompt opens and asks you the file name. Enter it accordingly with the extension of file and Path, where the file will be created. Finally, cpck Create New File and a new file will be created.

Creating a Folder

To create a new Folder or Directory, navigate to the directory in which you want to create the folder. Cpck on New Folder from the Dashboard. A Prompt will be opened to ask you name of your New Folder. Enter your desired Folder name and Cpck Create New Folder. Your new folder will be created.

Copying

You can copy a single file or folder or even multiple files or folders. To copy a single file or folder select what you want to copy with a single mouse cpck over the it and Cpck Copy. You will be asked the file path where you wish to copy the file or folder to, enter the Path accordingly and cpck Copy File(s).

To copy multiple files or folders, single cpck on the desired files or folders by holding down the ctrl key to select multiple files or folder and then cpck on copy. Enter the desired location and Cpck to Copy File(s) button to copy multiple files.

Moving

You can move a single file or folder or multiple ones. To move a single file or folder, select the one that you want to move with a single mouse cpck over it and Cpck on Move. You will be asked the file path where you wish to move the file or folder to, enter the Path accordingly and cpck on Move File(s).

To move multiple files or folders, single cpck on the desired files or folders by holding down the ctrl key to select multiple files or folder and then cpck on move. Enter the desired location and Cpck to Move File(s) button to move multiple files.

Uploading a File

To upload a file from the cPanel File Manager Interface, navigate to the directory in which you wish to upload and then, cpck Upload. You will find the interface shown below.

You can Drag and Drop the file to upload or you can select the file from Select File button. If you want the File Manager to automatically overwrite the files with same name, you can select – Overwrite existing files checkbox.

Downloading a File

To download a file from the cPanel File Manager, you can select the single file or multiple files with single cpck on file name, and cpck over Download to download the files.

Deleting a File or Folder

To delete Single or Multiple file or folder just select the files with single mouse cpck and cpck on Delete button. You will get a prompt for sending the files into Trash, if you want to permanently delete the files then select Skip the Trash checkbox. If the check box is not selected, files are moved to Trash Folder from where you can recover them later.

Renaming a File or Folder

To rename a File or Folder, select the file or folder with a single mouse cpck and Cpck on rename. You will get a prompt to enter new file or folder name. Enter file or folder name accordingly and cpck on Rename File button to save. You can also double cpck on Name of any File or Folder to rename the file.

Text Editor

To edit any text file with simple text editor, select the file and cpck on Edit button. You will get a prompt with Encoding check if enabled, then cpck on Edit in prompt to edit the file. Text editor will open in a new tab, where you can edit the file. You can also switch to Code editor from here. When you have finished editing, cpck Save to save the File.

Code Editor

Code editor makes it easy to edit those files, which contains code in them. It differentiates color between codes, which makes it easy to edit those files.

Extracting a File

To extract a File which are compressed, select the file you wish to extract and cpck on Extract Button. You will get a prompt to enter the path where you wish to extract the files, if you enter a path which is not existing, cPanel File Manager will create the directory and extract the file in it.

Note − cPanel File Manager can only extract files which are in Zip, GZip and BZip2 type of compression.

Compressing a File or Folder

To compress a folder or a single or multiple files, select the files and cpck on Compress. You will get a prompt, select the compression method where you can choose from Zip, Gzip or Bzip2. It will ask you to enter the file name, enter file name accordingly and cpck Compress File(s). After compression, the result will be shown to you.

Viewing a File

This option helps you to view the content of known file types within cPanel Interface. Select the file you wish to view and cpck on View. It will open a new tab and the content of file will be shown to you.