How to Manage Your Files with cPanel File Manager Print

How to Manage Your Files with cPanel File Manager

cPanel File Manager is a browser-based file explorer that gives you full access to everything on your hosting account — without needing an FTP client. You can upload files, edit code, create folders, set permissions, compress and extract archives, and more.

Prerequisites

• Access to cPanel at yourdomain.com/cpanel

Opening File Manager

1. Log in to cPanel at yourdomain.com/cpanel
2. In the Files section, click File Manager
3. File Manager opens showing your home directory

Understanding the Directory Structure

Your home directory contains several important folders:

• public_html — this is your website's root folder. Files here are publicly accessible via your domain. Your WordPress installation lives here by default.
• public_html/wp-content — WordPress themes, plugins, and uploaded media
• public_html/wp-content/uploads — all images and files uploaded through WordPress
• mail — stores your email messages (do not modify)
• logs — server and error logs
• .cpanel — cPanel configuration files (do not modify)

Uploading Files

Upload individual files

4. Navigate to the folder you want to upload to (e.g. public_html)
5. Click Upload in the top toolbar
6. Click Select File and choose the file from your computer
7. The file uploads and appears in the folder

Upload multiple files or folders (as a zip archive)

8. On your computer, compress the files into a .zip archive
9. Upload the .zip file to cPanel File Manager using the Upload method above
10. Right-click the .zip file and choose Extract
11. Confirm the extraction path and click Extract File(s)
12. Delete the .zip file after extraction if you no longer need it

Creating and Editing Files

Create a new file or folder

13. Navigate to the desired location
14. Click New File or New Folder in the toolbar
15. Enter the file or folder name and click Create

Edit a file directly in the browser

16. Right-click the file you want to edit
17. Choose Edit (for text/code files) or HTML Editor (for .html files)
18. Make your changes in the editor
19. Click Save Changes

Common File Manager Tasks

Edit the .htaccess file

20. Navigate to public_html
21. If .htaccess is not visible, click Settings (top right) and enable Show Hidden Files
22. Right-click .htaccess and choose Edit
23. Make your changes and save

Change file permissions (chmod)

24. Right-click the file or folder
25. Choose Change Permissions
26. Set the permissions using the checkboxes or by entering the numeric value
27. Click Change Permissions to save

Rename or move a file

28. Right-click the file and choose Rename to rename it in place
29. To move a file, right-click and choose Move, then enter the destination path

Delete a file or folder

30. Right-click the file or folder and choose Delete
31. Tick Skip Trash to delete permanently, or leave unticked to move to trash first
32. Click Confirm

Verify It Worked

• Uploaded files appear in the correct folder in File Manager
• Edited files reflect your changes when viewed in the browser or re-opened in the editor
• Changed permissions show the correct numeric value next to the file

Related Articles

• How to Access and Navigate cPanel
• Understanding Your Storage and Bandwidth Usage
• How to Use WordPress Toolkit — Staging, Cloning & Auto-Updates (WordPress category)