Overview
This guide shows you how to access a web-based File Manager for your server. The File Manager is useful as a low-volume GUI (graphical user interface) to interact with the files on your server.
NOTE:
File Manager is not available for Premium WordPress / Managed WordPress Pro, Personal, and Elite.
Instruction
- Log into your Media Temple Account.
- Select the blue ADMIN button associated with your Managed WordPress server.
- Locate your desired site >> select the three-dot icon >> select Tools.
- Locate the File Browser and select Open.
- Within the File Manager you have the ability to open, edit, and upload files/folders to your server.
Instruction
- Log into your Media Temple account.
- Click on the blue ADMIN button associated to your Shared Hosting.
- In the top left-hand corner of the account Dashboard, select File Manag
- You will now be warped to the File Manager in cPanel.
Basic funtions
- Double-click on a folder to enter it.
- With the toolbar, you may also:
- Click
to create new file. - Click
to create a new folder. - Click
to copy a file or folder. - Click
to move a file or folder. - Click
to upload a file or folder. - Click
to download a file from your domain to your device. - Click
to remove a file or folder. - Click
to rename a file or folder. - Click
to open a file in a text editor. - Click
to open a file in an HTML editor. - Click
to change the file permissions of a file or folder. - Click
to open/view a file. - Click
to extract a zip, gzip, or bzip file. - Click
to compress a file or folder into a zip file.
- Click
Instructions
The Grid File Manager is provided as a convenient way to access your files from the Account Center. You can quickly upload a file, change a file's name or permissions, or edit the contents of a plaintext file.
- Click on the blue ADMIN button associated to your Grid server.
- Under FILE MANAGEMENT, select File Manager.
- This will take you to the main page of the File Manager. You should see a list of folders and files.
- To enter a folder, simply click on its name.
- To create a folder, click the New Folder button on the upper right.
- To upload a file to your current directory, click on Upload Files in the upper right.
- Once the upload form has appeared, either click on the Upload File button in the middle of the screen. Or, simply drag the file directly from your desktop into the field.
- To download a file, select the
icon to the right of the file you wish to download.
Note that the file will be downloaded in a compressed format. More about downloads below.
- To delete a file or empty folder, find the
located to the right of the file you wish to delete.
- To rename, edit, or change permissions on a file or folder, click on
located to the right of the file you wish to edit.
- Click the Edit name option to rename the file.
- To change your file permissions, Check or uncheck permissions as desired. See File Permissions for a detailed explanation of permissions and security. Then click SAVE to save your edits.
- Click the Edit name option to rename the file.
- To edit a file using the dynamic editor, simply click directly on the file that you wish to edit. Once you're done, click Save in the top right corner. It must be a plain text file (like an HTML or PHP file).
Always download a copy of your original file before making changes. By doing so, you will have the option to revert your changes if necessary.
Questions and troubleshooting
I want to do download / upload multiple files at the same time
To download / upload more than one file at a time, we suggest that you use a FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client. See FTP for suggestions and instructions.
Downloaded files look wrong
Files downloaded from the File Manager will typically be in plaintext, so you can view them with a text editor.
However, if you open the file with a text editor and it is full of unusual symbols, your file may be a binary file, or it may be in a compressed format. Compressed files typically have something like .gz or .zip at the end.
To access these files on your computer, open the file with a decompression utility, such as 7-Zip for Windows or StuffIt Expander for Mac. Your computer may also decompress it automatically when you open the file.
I can't upload a file with the same name
The File Manager will not allow you to overwrite an existing file on the server. You must first delete or rename the existing file, or choose a different name for the new file.
Upload takes too long or doesn't finish
Browsers generally don't handle large file uploads very well. Please use a dedicated FTP program to upload files larger than 5 MB, or if you are having trouble with your File Manager upload.
I can't delete folders
As a precaution, we do not allow folders with any kind of content to be deleted. You can either enter that folder and first delete its contents, and then finally delete the higher-level folder, or use a dedicated FTP client to delete multiple files and folders at once.
Folders with the name of . or ..
It is standard to include two folders inside every folder: A single dot (.), representing the current folder, and a double dot (..) representing a folder above the current folder.
The folder with one period is a link to "this folder itself." If you click on it, you'll stay in the same folder, but you will notice a /. being added to your Current Folder. You will still be viewing the same folders.
The folder with two periods is a link to the folder above it. If you click on it, you will go back one folder level. Note that if you've clicked the one with one period first, you'll have to click this one twice to get rid of the /. and then go back a level.
- View system files.
- Edit system files.
- Change the permissions and ownership on a file.
- Upload or download system files.
The VPS comes with two File Managers. The basic Domain File Manager is located within the Parallels Plesk Panel. The other is the Container File Manager. This is used for advanced operations or to reach files at the root level of the server,
That being said, for more extensive file manipulation, we recommend using SSH instead. See Connecting via SSH to your server and Common SSH commands.
NOTE:
The File Manager will not allow you to edit long files (such as your php.ini) using the GUI. You should download the file, edit it, then upload it again. Or, just use SSH.
Plesk
There is also a File Manager under each domain. It is useful for making a quick edit or upload to one of your website files. For more extensive operations, we recommend using FTP. To reach this File Manager:
- Log into the Plesk Control Panel for your domain.
- Click on the File Manager tab.
- Now that you are in the domain's File Manager, you will be able to manage your files.
- Click on a Folder to enter it to .
- Click on a File to view or edit it.
- Click on a Folder to enter it to .
- Using the file manager's menu, you may also:
- Click on
to upload a file. - Click on
to create a file or directory. - Click on
to create a copy of a file. - Click on
to move a file or files to another directory. - Click on
to delete files. - Click on
to extract a compressed file/folder. - Click on
to access the following options: - Calculate the size of files and directories
- Change the timestamp of files or directories
- Click on
- To Rename a file, Change Permissions or Open a file in a brower, hover your cursor over the file or directory and click the downward pointing arrow.
cPanel
The following guide was created using cPanel's paper_lantern theme. If you are using a different cPanel theme, your UI may look different.
1. Log into the cPanel account for your domain.
2. Click on the File Manger tab.
- Click on a folder to enter it to.
- Click on a file to view or edit it.
4. Using the file manager, you may also:
- Click to create new file.
- Click to create a new folder.
- Click to copy a file or folder.
- Click to move a file or folder.
- Click to upload a file or folder.
- Click to download a file from your domain to your device.
- Click to remove a file or folder.
- Click to rename a file or folder.
- Click to open a file in a text editor.
- Click to open a file in an HTML editor.
- Click to change the file permissions of a file or folder.
- Click to open/view a file.
- Click to extract a zip, gzip, or bzip file.
- Click to compress a file or folder into a zip file.
Power Panel
Both Plesk and cPanel servers have the ability to acces a File Manager through the Power Panel. This has the added bonus of allowing you to edit files that are only accessible to the root user.
- Log into the Power Panel as the root user.
- Click on File Manager.
- You can now browse all the files on your server.
Now that you're in the File Manager, you can:
- Upload a file with the Upload Files tool at the top. Use Choose File to browse to your file, then click Upload. Click + to upload multiple files.
- Click on a folder to enter it.
- Click on a file to download it.
- Under the Actions column: Click on the hand icon to be able to change several administrative properties of the file, such as name, permissions, and ownership.
- Type a new name next to Name to change the file name.
- Check and uncheck permissions (see File Permissions for more info).
- Select the correct user and group from the dropdown menus.
- Click Submit when you are done making changes.
- Click on the down-arrow icon to download a copy of a file.
- Click on the pen icon to edit a file. (Note that this works only for short files.)
It is not recommended to upload files to your domains using this File Manager. The files will belong to the root user instead of the appropriate domain user. You can upload files via the domain-level File Manager instead, if you want to use the Plesk GUI.
Do not change ownership on files unless you have a good reason. Do not change permissions on files to 777 (everything checked) apart from testing purposes, as this is a security risk.
